A Marauders Guide to Falling in Love
by alliegrl
Summary: Sirius Black was, well, Sirius Black. It wasn't a surprise why the normally well-mannered Hufflepuffs were unable to remove their attention from him. He was, in all certainty, extremely attractive. "I do not like Black," Marlene finally said firmly. She hadn't ever consciously entertained the idea of feelings for him but the idea sounded absurd to her. Curse Lily for being right.
1. Part One: Chapter One

It all started on a typical bright and sunny day; it was one of those warm summer afternoons that the sun gleamed brightly in the sky with an array of puffy white clouds hugging the horizon. The neighborhood was anything but quiet; there were children playing street hockey on the far end of the avenue and two neighborhood busy bodies chatting over the fence while their young children played with toys out on the front lawn. It was on such a day that Marlene McKinnon had decided to keep herself indoors and was oblivious to the beautiful day outside her bedroom window. It was during this sunny August afternoon that she had decided to pack her school trunk for school and amongst sorting her belongings for another year at boarding school, looked at the tired eyes of the girl in the mirror and wondered where the summer had gone. She ran her right hand through her long and matted dirty blonde hair before her fingers got caught in a knot halfway through. She winced and yanked her hand away and quickly tied her hair back into a sloppy bun. Disregarding her hair she contemplated her reflection. The girl staring back at her looked almost defeated; she had tired circles rimming her eyes and a large array of freckles splashed across the bridge of her nose.

Marlene always considered herself to be nothing more than plain. Sure, she wasn't all that hard on the eyes but she would never consider herself to be drop dead gorgeous either. Apart from her long and thick black eyelashes she had never really been appreciative of her genetic features. Her skin was far too pale and was a constant reminder for her why she could never truly appreciate summer days like this one. Her face had a splash of freckles but was otherwise flawless and her hair was nothing more than a nuisance for her and more often than not, Marlene would resort to tying it back so as not to deal with it.

She managed to tear her eyes away from her mirror and instead focused on the mess surrounding her bedroom. Among the heaps of clothes scattered around the room she also had textbooks and cauldrons and an assortment of other school belongings that had yet to find their way into her trunk.

You see, Marlene was not just an ordinary girl who was currently hiding indoors to escape the suns unforgiving rays. At the tender age of eleven Marlene had received her acceptance letter to one of the most prestigious schools for magic: Hogwarts, to be more precise. She was currently on summer vacation awaiting the beginning to her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

It had definitely not been a shock when the large brown barn owl had flown in through their kitchen window and dropped an eloquently handwritten letter embellished with the Hogwarts crest in her lap. Her parents were both of wizarding decent and had been anticipating the letter for quite some time.

It was a sharp tapping noise that broke her momentary contemplation. Marlene inhaled a deep breath as she looked over to her bedroom window and recognized instantly the brown owl that belonged to her best friend Lily Evans. She hurried over to the window and quickly lifted it to allow the bird entry. He flew in gracefully, circled the bedroom twice before dropping a pink envelope on the dresser. With a satisfied hoot he settled on the back edge of her desk chair and waited patiently for a treat.

Marlene impatiently ripped open the letter and laughed quietly as Lily accounted for what appeared to be one of Lily's 'worst summers' ever. In fact, Marlene had been a little envious that Lily would be spending her summer in France but it seemed that her relaxing Paris getaway had been anything but peaceful.

_Could I have had any inclination that, of all the places in the world to spend holidays, the Potter's would just so happen to choose Paris?! If that isn't bad enough I had the horror of discovering that they had also chosen the same hotel. No doubt an all new for James and his never ending quest to drive me absolutely mad. He even had the audacity to introduce himself to my family and the Potters even invited us out for dinner!_

She couldn't help but feel a slight pang of jealousy for her red-headed friend as she read through the contents of the letter. Not that Marlene had feelings for James, nor would she ever want Lily to think that she did – Lily, after all, hated James Potter with a burning passion and Marlene remained Switzerland on the subject. It was merely because she was a romantic at heart and she secretly envied the attention that James had bestowed upon her best friend. Even if he was an 'arrogant bullying toerag', as Lily had recently taken to calling him.

_Not that I normally think too much on the subject but I found it rather interesting that Black was accompanying them. I knew those two were attached at the hip, but I had no idea that they weren't capable of separating themselves for the summer. _

Sirius Black was James Potter's best friend and partner in crime. Lily's mention of him brought a slight scowl to Marlene's face as she recollected a forgotten memory of their train ride home at the beginning of the summer.

Marlene had been using her reading glasses – something she quite often avoided using as she tended to feel self-conscience wearing. Leave it to Black to unknowingly pick up on one of her weaknesses. While accompanying Potter on his 'farewell to Lily Evans' quest, he had wished her a good summer. It would have been a quite thoughtful and half decent gesture of him to do so had he not added the 'four eyes' bit to the end of it. Which, in retrospect, was quite condescending of him considering his best friend wore glasses.

Although, she mused now, he probably wouldn't have hesitated to use the beloved nickname on James in the appropriate circumstance.

Marlene did not generally hold an opinion of the Marauders, a self-declared title that the notorious Gryffindor boys had dubbed themselves back in first year. They were well known at Hogwarts for their mischievous pranks and defying antics but had never given Marlene any reason to dislike them. As a rule, they generally left their fellow Gryffindor's alone – with the exception of Lily, whom James had been known to fruitlessly pursue since fourth year.

Apart from being partnered with Remus in Potions a couple of times, Marlene had never actually had reason to interact with the boys. Needless to say she was surprised when Black had acknowledged her presence in the train compartment as he normally remained neutral.

_I finally received the results of my O.W.L.s!_

Lily's next paragraph broke Marlene's train of thought on her fellow classmates and she quickly pushed her previous thoughts to the back of her mind.

_Arithmancy: O  
>Astronomy: O<br>Care of Magical Creatures: O  
>Charms: O<br>Defense Against the Dark Arts: O  
>Herbology: E<br>History of Magic: O  
>Muggle Studies: O<br>Potions: O  
>Transfiguration: E<em>

_I really would have liked to round out with all Outstanding's but considering that it is Herbology and Transfiguration I was satisfied with Exceptionals. It gives me something to work towards improving on my N.E.W.T.s next year!_

Marlene had received the results of her O.W.L.s a few days prior and had been too nervous to open the package. With Lily's reminder on the subject she apprehensively glanced over to her desk to see the large manila envelope poking out from underneath a few scattered textbooks.

"Thanks Lily," she muttered bitterly before sighing loudly. She couldn't feel upset with Lily for bringing up the subject as she really had been avoiding thinking about it and now was a good a time as any to muster up the courage to explore just how badly she had done the previous year. She had to have known that Lily would bring up the results of her O.W.L.s, Lily loved school.

Marlene grabbed the manila envelope and her hands hesitated on the flap. She quickly changed her mind, tossed the envelope onto the bed and walked over to her closed bedroom door to grab a drink from the kitchen. She slowly opened it and peered out into the corridor. The deserted hallway was quiet, much unlike that of the street outside and Marlene hoped to herself that her mother was not at home.

She was filled with disappointment when she heard the cluttering of pans in the downstairs kitchen and a women softly humming to a tune she did not recognize.

She walked solemnly out into the hall and tried to stall; her mother had been bugging her about the results of her O.W.L.s going on for weeks now and Marlene was slowly running out of plausible excuses as to why they hadn't arrived yet.

Walking down the stairs, taking her precious time, she began looking at each of the pictures hanging on the wall. There was many photos of when she was younger; one in particular of her in the bathtub at the age of three, smiling up at the camera and a mountain of soap suds molded into a beard on her face. As she reached the last step she turned the corner and walked straight into the kitchen where her mother was drumming her fingers on the counter and looking aimlessly out the window in the direction of their neighbor's house.

"That Mary Kanz," her mother said matter-of-factly without removing her gaze. Marlene was startled that her mother had heard her enter the room. "If she insists on vacuuming in her underwear, it would be nice of her to have the decency to shut her blinds."

Marlene shuddered.

Molly McKinnon turned around and smiled at her daughter. She was a pretty woman and had very similar features to those of her sixteen year old daughter. Her hair was a light mousey brown, short and curly with streaks of grey that framed her face. Her hazel eyes twinkled and her fair complexion gave her the appearance that she was years younger than in fact she was. Marlene had definitely failed to inherit her mother's long slender legs and towering heights as she currently measured 5'4" against Molly McKinnon's 5'9" frame.

"I thought you were going to keep yourself hidden up there in your room all day. It is a beautiful day outside Marlene, sweetie. You really shouldn't waste it."

"I suppose not," Marlene stated dully. She glanced out the front window and watched as the boys across the street continued to play street hockey.

"Have you looked at your O.W.L.s yet?" Molly McKinnon had turned her attention back out the window and shook her head in strong distaste for her neighbor's behavior.

"Uh, no." Marlene nervously bit her lip and looked down in embarrassment. She had been telling her mom for weeks that the results still hadn't arrived. She technically wasn't lying to her mother at this moment but she still felt an overwhelming sense of guilt.

"Oh," Molly pulled her gaze from the window and walked over to her daughter still smiling. She placed both hands on Marlene's shoulders and gave her a firm squeeze. "I saw the letter on your desk dear."

Marlene felt her face flush and knew she could no longer keep up with the charade.

"You'll have to open it eventually," Molly said warmly before she continued to busy herself with the dishes in the sink.

Marlene sauntered over to the refrigerator and grabbed a glass of Orange Juice.

"I think I'd rather just stay inside today," she said simply and Molly nodded while continuing to hum her previous tune.

Once inside her bedroom she flipped off the lights and threw herself onto the bed and stared upwards at her ceiling. Apart from the ceiling fan that hung low and often rocked on its hinges when turned on, she had several glow in the dark stars plastered in various constellations over the proximity of her bed.

She felt a moment of comfort looking up at the makeshift night sky in her bedroom and for a moment her mind was completely at ease.

Her hand brushed against the manila envelope and she snatched it out from underneath her small frame. She lifted the envelope to her eye level and ran her fingers over the elegant scrawl that so neatly stated her name. She hesitated once more before starting to tear slowly at the corner.

Despite being apprehensive of her O.W.L. results, she really was looking forward to September 1st which was quickly approaching as the summer days passed by. The summer nights were ending sooner and the chill of an autumn evening was beginning to feel more prominent as the last week of August came to a close.

In her moment of weakness, staring at her ceiling and resenting the large envelope still resting in her hands she began to lose herself once more in her thoughts of returning to school. There were so many things to look forward to this year: Hogsmeade, Quidditch, no pressure for N.E.W.T.s until another year, and most importantly her friends. There was Lily Evans with gorgeous long auburn hair and emerald eyes. She was radiant, intelligent and she caused boy's heads to turn when she passed in the halls. Of course, Lily Evans would never admit this. She was far too proud to acknowledge that she was drop dead gorgeous. Not that she probably even cared; to Lily, books and studying was far more important than anything else. She supposed that is probably the reason why Lily hated her biggest admirer, James Potter, who seemed far too concerned with presentation. He was always inflating his massive ego and pestering Lily to date him.

Mary MacDonald was another one of her really good friends and also a fellow Gryffindor. Mary was pretty but much like Marlene, both girls were rather plain in comparison to their counterpart, Lily. She had shoulder length dark brown hair and was usually rather tanned having Italian heritage and all. Although not as severely dedicated to her studies, Mary was always exceptional at Herbology; something that Marlene suspected Lily was secretly envious of.

Needless to say, Marlene became quite aware that she was stalling from reading the results of her letter. Lily's owl was napping contentedly on his makeshift perch on her desk chair and she was recognizing the need to reply back to her friend before too much more time had elapsed. Marlene was getting bored of not caring as she had been doing it well the majority of her life so she was unsure why today felt any different.

She ripped open the letter and forced herself to scan the contents of it.

She blinked uncomfortably while trying to focus her eyes in the dim lighting in the room. A small smile played on her lips before she picked herself off her bed and descended down towards the kitchen where Molly was calling the household for dinner.

The letter to Lily was going to have to wait just a little longer.

* * *

><p>September first arrived quickly and the sun was barely a glimmer on the horizon when she awoke an hour earlier than she would have liked. This was most likely due to nerves since she had barely slept throughout the entire night and she decided that it was time to start the day.<p>

She tried taking her time showering but realized when she was finished that she had barely used up more than fifteen minutes. After drying her hair and getting dressed in her muggle clothes, Marlene hesitantly applied mascara to her already dark lashes and stepped back to admire her work in the mirror.

She was almost unable to recognize the girl staring back at her. Although mascara was the only makeup on her face it made her eyes pop out. She had forced herself a brush through her normally unmanageable hair which was now loose waves that cascaded down to the middle of her back. Of course there were freckles still plastered over her nose and her cheeks flushed light pink in contrast to her unbearably pale skin, yet this somehow didn't bother Marlene like it once used to. She hesitated on throwing her hair into a ponytail but decided against it.

She smiled and the girl looking back at her dazzled her with a beautiful grin. Although not the ravishing beauty that was Lily Evans, Marlene felt like the most beautiful girl in the world in that exact moment.

She made her way downstairs, trunk in tow, and grabbed a piece of buttered toast that was waiting for her on the kitchen table. The sun was illuminating the entire neighborhood now and people could be seen walking out to their cars on their way to work.

"Oh Marlene, you look absolutely ravishing today!" Molly McKinnon announced cheerfully. Dave McKinnon smiled in polite agreement before ducking back into the morning newspaper. Marlene swallowed down a large glass of orange juice and glanced at the clock. It was a quarter past eight and time to leave.

Arriving at Kings Cross Train Station around half past ten, Dave unloaded the truck from the back of the car and carried it towards platforms 9 and 10. After hugging her mother and father goodbye and exchanging best wishes and a "see you at Christmas," Marlene grabbed hold of her truck and casually leaned against the barrier that separated the two platforms. With a small wave Marlene leaned in and the sight of her beaming parents disappeared as she was suddenly standing on platform 9 ¾ and a gigantic scarlet steam engine labeled "Hogwarts Express" rested before her on the tracks.

Marlene moved aside as a small boy, presumably entering his first year as he looked unconvinced and was accompanied by his equally skeptical parents, moved through the barrier and almost tripped over her massive trunk. With no inclination to rush, she stood back momentarily to admire the scenery doubting that her friends would even be at the station so early.

She watched a fellow Gryffindor student a year her junior pass by looking quite miserable about something, eavesdropped on one mothers conversation asking her blushing son whether or not he packed enough clean underwear – who, by the way, looked around frantically to see if anyone had heard such an embarrassing question followed by a whining "Mooom!" – she even enjoyed watching one Ravenclaw's younger sibling try desperately to board the Hogwarts express after his brother insisting that he was also going to Hogwarts that year. It was when she heard three high pitched giggles to her left that made her break away from watching the father trying to pull the small boy from the handrails he was gripping onto.

The three girls weren't hard to recognize and Marlene instantly knew them to be Natasha Madley, Teresa Bletchley, and Sibyl Moon all sixth year Hufflepuff's. Marlene should have known better than to wonder why they were giggling but she followed the direction of their gazes and was less than surprised to discover the object of their hysteria was none other than Sirius Black and James Potter. The two Marauders were standing off to the side of the platform; Sirius was casually leaning against the wall looking nonchalant and James was telling, what seemed to be, a very exciting story as his hands were fully animated while he spoke.

Sirius Black was, well ... Sirius Black. He was very tall and muscular, the later no doubt from all his years of being a beater on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. It wasn't a surprise why the normally well-mannered Hufflepuff girls were unable to remove their attention from him. His silky short black hair fell effortlessly into his fathomless grey eyes and he always had a playful smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. He was, in all certainty, extremely attractive.

James Potter was also tall and very slim and had the messiest jet black hair of anyone Marlene had ever seen. If possible, it seemed to be even messier than the last time she had seen him. Of course, that was quite possibly because he was constantly running his hand through it and right on cue in conclusion to whatever story he had been telling his hand shot up into his hair.

It didn't take long to figure out why he had done this as Lily Evans had walked into plain view smiling and laughing with their mutual Gryffindor friend Mary MacDonald. Marlene stood in the background eyes moving between the scene that was about to unfold before her.

Lily was oblivious to James undeniably large grin and the twinkle in his eyes as he made his way towards her. Sirius Black continued to lean against the wall with casual elegance but the playful smile on his lips had receded into a thin line and there was no emotion brewing in his eyes.

And then there was Lily, still chatting happily with her friend completely unaware of the egotistical whirlwind headed in her direction. Mary noticed, however. Her smile quickly faded as she caught sight of James over Lily's shoulder and her attempted warning was a fraction of a second too late.

"Evans!" James shouted. You could see Lily's entire body tense as she recognized the familiar voice and she whirled around quickly with a determined look etched into her features.

James didn't stand a chance. That much Marlene already knew. He had barely opened his mouth when he was met with Lily's famous fiery temper.

"Potter!" she sneered frostily "if you didn't get the hint with the seventy seven unanswered owls you sent me or the three howlers reminding you how much I despise you and your arrogant bullying behavior then let me be the first to remind you today that this year I want nothing to do with you. I don't want to speak to you, I don't want to see you, and I most certainly do not want to date you."

"Aw, Evans. Why do you need to be like that?" he replied with a chuckle. However, it was definitely not the appropriate response to the daggers that Lily's eyes were shooting at him in that precise moment. She opened her mouth, no doubt to shout something nasty but Mary quickly tugged at her sleeve inevitably trying to pull her away. Mary did not forget to share the same shooting glare that Lily was administering to James before the two of them walked away in a much different diminishing aura than before the encounter.

James didn't look defeated though, if anything he looked more determined than ever as his hand shot instinctively back to ruffle through his hair. "See you later Evans!"

Lily ignored him and Marlene watched as the two girls dragged their trunks and bordered the opposite length of the train undoubtedly trying their best to put distance between themselves and two of the infamous Marauders.

James and Sirius began moving now and Marlene looked around at the station's clock to determine that it was now promptly five minutes to eleven. She had not realized that she had been aimlessly people watching for so long and she felt a surge of panic for her inapt ability to recognize that she was almost late. She grabbed hold of her truck and moved forward for the first time out of her hiding spot in the shadows and quickly made her way over to the giant engine that was now full forcedly billowing smoke.

That was the first time that Sirius Black noticed her and for a moment their eyes connected. It was brief, but it was long enough for her to catch the bemused smile that he gave her before she boarded the train and moved from his eyesight.

Marlene could feel herself blushing. It wasn't because she liked Sirius, of course she was fully willing to admit to his attractiveness, but a crush on Sirius Black was not something that Marlene fancied the notion of. Sirius was far too interested in his Marauding capers to have time for dating and girls. It was common knowledge that to pursue a relationship with Black was to find oneself running into a brick wall.

Marlene stowed away her trunk and began searching for the compartment that Lily and Mary had undoubtedly hidden away in by now. She found them near the front of the train once again enveloped in energetic chatter, James Potter evidently farthest from their concerns. Lily looked up the second that she heard the compartment door slide open and her smile flickered for a moment before realizing who had entered the room.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in such surprise that Mary was quick to turn around in an almost defensive nature.

"Marlene!" Mary exclaimed happily.

"Oh my gosh! You look amazing!" Lily exclaimed finally. She stood up and crossed the compartment in seconds enveloping Marlene in a gracious and firm hug. Mary followed immediately after and all three girls were grinning widely as they pulled away.

"Thanks," Marlene said shyly. Taking compliments were never easy for her.

Their conversation quickly turned into topics of their summer holidays. Mary had travelled to Greece for the majority of the holidays and neither Lily nor Marlene had had much contact with her since their train ride home two months previous. They listened intently to her as she explained about the two separate boys she had met while away, 'oohing' in all the right places and gasping when appropriate.

It wasn't long before Lily excused herself for prefect duties and disappeared into the hall and Mary wandered off to track down the witch with the snack trolley. Marlene suspected that she was secretly meeting up with her on again off again Ravenclaw boyfriend Davey Gudgeon but said nothing to let her friend know of her suspicions.

Once again Marlene found herself alone, something that she was finding a great deal of comfort in lately and she shifted her attention towards the open fields that were passing by outside her window.

It wasn't long before her peace was rudely interrupted by a loud bang outside her compartment followed closely with shrill feminine shrieking, mischievous snickering and the thudding of feet running down the hall towards her. The compartment door slid open and four boys fell into the room slamming the door behind them.

"Prongs, that was awesome!"

"We sure freaked out those third year Ravenclaws!"

"I bet those first years are crying for their mommies after that one, hey Padfoot?"

There was some high fives, appreciative nods and their laughter had failed to subside as Marlene watched dully from her seat in the corner. None of the guys had yet realized that she was sitting in their midst staring straight at them expectantly.

She cleared her throat.

"Oops," Remus Lupin was the first to speak after they all turned at the sound of her cough. Even though he was good looking, Remus was always looking a bit on the tired side. However, today he seemed to be livelier than the last time she had seen him. His sandy blonde hair was neat and properly groomed and although quite slim, he was definitely not as tall as two of his counter parts, James and Sirius.

Peter Pettigrew was the fourth member to the infamous Gryffindor group. He was a bit chubbier than the other three and definitely the shortest of the four. His mousey brown hair was a bit longer as though he was trying to achieve the same careless look as Black. His beady brown eyes were large and unsure at the moment as they shifted between the other three silently asking them what to do.

Sirius Black flashed a glorious smile.

"POTTER!" a loud and intrusive female voice broke the awkward silence from outside in the hall.

"That's our cue mate," Remus said quickly.

"Tell Evan's I dropped by," James Potter said with a boyish grin.

"POTTER, I KNOW YOU ARE BEHIND THIS!" the voice was definitely getting closer. The four boys exited the compartment merely seconds before Lily came into view clearly determined to enforce discipline by any means necessary.

The rest of the train ride was, to say the least, completely uneventful. Mary took her time returning from the snack trolley and Marlene's suspicions were confirmed when her friend returned with her hair slightly disarray and a pink flush to her cheeks. Lily was completely oblivious as she was absorbed in a book she had begun reading during the holidays.

When the train arrived at Hogsmeade station they passed by many nervous looking first year students. Hagrid, the groundskeeper, was calling them over in a loud booming voice and yet none of them seemed overly more at ease when they caught site of his gigantic frame. Lily stopped to encourage a small group of them but their look of skepticism told Marlene that they weren't likely to believe Lily had their best interests in mind.

The three girls clambered into one of the awaiting horseless carriages while openly discussing their anticipation of their arrival. On their way they watched as the magnificent castle came into full glorious view as they entered through the front gates. The sun was starting to set and the beautiful array of colors illuminated the dark and enchanting castle. The many turrets were framed by magnificent oranges and yellows and the various flickering candles glowing from inside the windows created an impressive sense of homely comfort.

Marlene stepped out of the carriage careful not to take her gaze off of the image before her. As she smiled to herself she whispered under her breath "Welcome home."


	2. Part One: Chapter Two

The great hall erupted into applause as the Sorting hat finished its traditional song and placed all of the first year students into their appropriate houses. Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster at Hogwarts, stood to address the hall and the room fell silent almost immediately.

He reached his arms out almost as if to embrace the crowd and said loudly "Eat up!" Quite suddenly, the four elongated oak tables were filled with mountains of food and drink.

The welcome back feast was brilliant, as it usually was, and included all the usual favorites: lamb chops, roast beef, shepherd's pie, Yorkshire pudding, boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes and about a dozen other dishes that seemed immaculately satisfying even to the ghosts of Hogwarts who, as it were, unable to actually enjoy such delights. As the last bits of food were being consumed – mostly by the Marauder boys – Marlene looked up at the great ceiling cast above the massive hall. Above the hundreds of floating candles existed an enchanted replica of the outside sky and she noted that it was quite fiercely grey as though a storm was brewing.

Dumbledore stood once more and the chatter of the great hall came to a dull murmur before stopping completely.

"Welcome back students," he said merrily, "I trust that you are all well fed and quite ready to retire for the evening. A few notices before I send you off, however, It has been brought to my attention that notorious rule breaking and practical jokes are at an ever increasing rise at Hogwarts," his eyes were definitely twinkling now and Marlene could have sworn his eyes passed over the Gryffindor table before continuing, "Mr. Filch would like me to take the time to remind you that anyone caught outside after hours or imposing upon these serious misdemeanors will find themselves subject to the consequences."

He was definitely looking at the Marauders now. He seemed very amused as all four boys looked back at him innocently; a fact that probably made Filch completely agitated and Marlene noted that he was quick to leave the great hall at the conclusion of Dumbledore's speech.

Lily once again removed herself from her friends to help guide all the first year students to their dormitories leaving Mary and Marlene to follow behind the rest of their Gryffindor classmates. At the base of Gryffindor tower on the seventh floor of the castle, the usual portrait of the fat lady greeted them warmly as someone at the front of the group announced the new password "Acromantula."

The portrait swung open to reveal a circular opening that led into the warm and comforting common room that Marlene had missed deeply over the past two months. Most students headed straight up the flight of stairs to their corresponding dormitories but Marlene and Mary grabbed two squashy armchairs near the fireplace to wait for Lily to finish her tour.

"My mom's a bit worried," Mary said quietly while staring into the flickering amber flames across from her. Her eyes shone with the reflection of the fire and she looked sombre as she continued. "This whole ... he-who-must-not-be-named business has her and dad worried sick about our safety here. She almost didn't let me come."

"You know Dumbledore though," Marlene offered sympathetically.

"I know," she sighed "and my parents know and that's the argument that I kept offering whenever the subject came up."

"If there's anywhere to be safe it's right here," Marlene added. She gazed at Mary's deep contemplation and couldn't help but feel like her friend was keeping something from her. She didn't push the subject and Mary didn't offer any more input on the matter.

"Well," Lily interjected the two girls thoughts with a pretty fierce scowl on her normally pretty face "I'm pretty sure that I've convinced those poor first year boys that Potter, Black, Lupin and Pettigrew are, in fact, full of it and they will not wake up tomorrow orange as pumpkins after having drank the pumpkin juice at the feast. Although, the same can't be said for those poor first years on the train this afternoon, one of them has sprouted a unicorn's horn and has to spend her first night in the hospital wing."

Marlene stifled a giggle as Lily shot her an unforthcoming glare.

"I don't know about you two but I'm about ready to pass out from such a long day," Mary couldn't help but add a yawn to the end of her sentence and both Lily and Marlene nodded in agreement.

As they were climbing the stairs to the sixth year girls dormitory James Potter yelled from the far corner of the common room "Goodnight, Evans!" to which Lily forcefully ignored.

* * *

><p>Marlene definitely had a better sleep than the night before and she awoke to the sun streaming in through the window feeling refreshed and ready to start her first day of classes. Lily was already awake and opening up the curtains on the other windows within their dormitory.<p>

Mary was still asleep, resting peacefully and completely unaware that the sun was beating down on her face. Marlene almost felt a bit sorry for her when Lily walked over to shake her awake.

"Mary," she said persistently "It's time to get up."

"Sshfive more minutes mom," she mumbled groggily trying to cover her face back up with her pillow. Lily grabbed hold of it and started to forcefully yank it away. "Arrrgh, Lily. Why must you ruin my perfectly good dream?"

"It's probably a dream involving a certain seventh year Davey Gudgeon isn't it Mary?" Marlene smirked suggestively. Mary began to blush bright red and buried her face in her hands.

"What am I missing?" Lily looked inquisitively between Marlene and Mary.

Marlene began giggling and it only took a few moments for Lily to piece together her friend's previous sentence.

"Mary," she said finally, "Davey, really?" Lily had always liked Davey Gudgeon, Marlene supposed that she and Lily liked him as much as any supportive friends could. That is, until he broke up with Mary for the third time last year and began dating Bertha Jorkins the very same afternoon.

"Oh shut it," she grumbled in clear embarrassment. She tossed the covers off of her body and dashed into the bathroom - the door shut firmly behind her almost a little more forceful than was necessary.

By the time they had all gotten ready it was time to head down to the great hall for breakfast. Lily was already mapping out her study schedule – "You don't even have your class schedule yet!" Mary had exclaimed – and the hallways were buzzing with anxious students who had received their timetable and were comparing classes.

Marlene, Lily and Mary settled down towards the end of the Gryffindor table and began helping themselves to orange juice and buttered toast.

"Good morning ladies," Professor McGonagall said as cheerfully as was possible for McGonagall to sound as she passed out their class schedules. "I trust you got a good night's rest?"

The girls nodded in unison before their professor and head of household carried on delivering the rest of her student's course sheets. Marlene quickly glanced down at her own copy and groaned rather loudly.

"What classes did you get?" Lily asked eagerly.

"Double potions, lunch, followed by Transfiguration and Arithmancy," Marlene sighed in exasperation. Considering that she was preparing for a career in healing she needed to excel in Potions, Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts. She never had problems with the majority of her classes but Marlene was rarely consistent with her performance in Potions class and even worse with Transfiguration.

It turned out that Lily followed the same schedule and Mary had Muggle Studies in place of Arithmancy. The rest of their weekly schedules coincided quite nicely with each other.

As the three girls made their way from the great hall towards the dungeons for their first class of double Potions they were greeted by a familiar voice.

"Oy!"

"Oh no," Lily muttered.

It wasn't James, however, but none other than his best mate Sirius Black. As the three girls had turned around – Lily bracing herself for the usual confrontation – they were surprised to find Sirius Black unaccompanied by his usual posse. He was undoubtedly waiting for his friends in the main corridor off the great hall and casually leaning against the wall looking smug and relaxed.

"Looking good McKinnon, hardly recognized you yesterday," followed by a wink and a playful smirk.

Marlene would not let him see her blush. She quickly turned on her heel and continued ahead in the direction that she had been heading before the encounter.

"James was hoping to speak with you this morning Evans," he continued on casually.

Lily and Mary quickly followed suit but not before Marlene could hear Lily retort, "Bugger off Black."

It wasn't much better in Potions class. James and Sirius sat down in the table directly in front of Lily and Marlene. Lily gave James a piece of her mind after he asked her out for the first time that day. She smiled apologetically at Marlene and jumped ship to the table across the room to fill any vacant seat she could find.

Sirius Black did not acknowledge Marlene again, something she was fairly thankful for but her friend's sudden abandonment meant that she was forced to fend for herself in one of her most challenging courses of instruction.

Professor Slughorn entered the room. He was a short and balding man with a large belly and jolly laugh. He was pleasant enough but even more so to those students who excelled in his class. Marlene was never lucky enough to have him fully appreciate her work and he seemed to be dubious in her abilities to brew even the simplest of potions.

This, in Marlene's opinion, was completely unfair. She was decent enough, she believed, but she was always overanalyzing her measurements and second guessing her work. She had even been surprised to learn that she had actually managed to score an 'E' on her Potions O.W.L.s, something that had been a large accomplishment for her. In her opinion, this made her assumption on Slughorn's unfairness towards her even more accurate.

"Good morning class," Slughorn announced merrily as he made his way to the front of the dark and dimly lit classroom. "Today we will begin with the Draught of Peace."

He then proceeded to write the ingredients on the board which Marlene hastily copied down onto her parchment.

_Powdered moonstone, syrup of hellebore ..._

"Now I am going to divide you into partners today for this task. Let's see now, Evans and Pettigrew, MacNair and MacDonald ..."

_Please not Snape, please not Snape ..._

"Snape and Abbott."

_Oh thank goodness. _

"Black and Potter, Mckinnon and Lupin."

Remus was a nice enough guy and Marlene was perfectly content to partner with him in Potions. Having frequently been partnered together in the past, Marlene was quite aware of what to expect. Since the chair beside her was vacant, Remus grabbed his belongings and made his way to the chair adjacent to hers.

"Hey," he said with a simple smile.

"Hey Remus," Marlene returned the gesture and continued scribbling down the instructions from the board. Remus offered to collect the ingredients from the supply cupboard and the two of them began measuring and chopping to the precise dimensions that Professor Slughorn had indicated.

Modesty was not the way to describe Marlene's self-evaluation of her brewing capabilities; she had given herself far too high of expectations for the day's activities even with Remus's advanced knowledge on the subject. Their concoction was a wilting grey color and the odor caused both Remus and Marlene's nose to wrinkle in distaste.

Even Lily was having a difficult time with this potion and she was one of the top students in the class. Of course, it could have had something to do with the fact that Peter was her partner and quite often "No, no Peter, don't add that yet!" could be heard echoing through the classroom.

By the end of the double session not one group had successfully brewed the Draught of Peace, although Severus Snape and Gregory Abbott were the closest pair to accomplishing the task.

"We will continue to work on this," Slughorn announced defeated at the conclusion of the period, "class dismissed!"

"Sorry about the potion Remus, it's definitely not my strongest area of expertise," Marlene joked lightly as the pair cleaned up their workstation and packed up their bags.

Remus smiled politely, "Are you kidding, you did a fantastic job Marlene. You don't give yourself enough credit."

As they walked out the door and into the dungeon's corridor Remus wished her goodbye and hung behind to wait for his friends. Lily and Mary were already waiting outside the classroom for her and Lily had a look of urgency on her face.

Marlene had known Lily long enough to know what that meant and she didn't hesitate to hurry forward so that they could continue on to lunch and avoid James Potter.

Transfiguration was, in a sense, a complete and utter disaster. McGonagall had the class practicing vanishing spells. They started small; first working on vanishing feathers which everyone, except for Marlene, successfully achieved by the end of class.

"It's hopeless," Marlene cried near the end of the period. She placed her forehead downwards to rest on the top of her desk and took a deep breath whilst closing her eyes.

"Just keep practicing," Lily replied encouragingly "you know how much persistence pays off."

"Is that so, Evans?"

_Uh oh._

"I always knew if I was persistent enough you'd finally agree to go out with me, what do you say Evans?" James Potter had been secretly listening in on their conversation. Considering he was sitting at the desk behind them, it couldn't have been hard to hear.

Marlene lifted her head from off the desk to watch Lily ball her hands into fists. She clenched her jaw but otherwise did an amazing job of paying James no direct attention.

He leaned over his desk so that he was only inches from her face.

Thwack.

Somehow Lily's text book flew off the desk and directly into James face. Marlene could have sworn she saw Lily's wand hand flicker slightly but she couldn't be sure.

"Ooff!" he exclaimed loudly causing Professor McGonagall to turn her attention towards him.

"Mr. Potter?" she mused dryly "is there a problem?"

Only Lily could wreak havoc in class and get away with it. James didn't say anything further on the subject and McGonagall averted her attention back to helping Peter successfully vanish the remnants of his feather.

The rest of the week sailed by in comparison. Marlene tackled her classes head on making sure to spend all of her spare time in the library studying and doing homework with Lily. The Potter encounters were kept to a bare minimum considering the boys, with the exception of Remus, were as likely to set foot inside the library as a troll was to fly a broomstick wearing pink dress robes and Lily took full advantage of this.

It was unfortunate for Marlene that she was still struggling with her Potions and Transfiguration classes even with all the extra effort that she was putting into them. By mid-September her vanishing spell had improved slightly, although she was still unable to make the feather completely disappear.

"It is quite the improvement, Miss McKinnon," Professor McGonagall had said, "I have no doubt that you will soon achieve the desired result with the right amount of practice."

The same couldn't be said for Professor Slughorn. He had exerted much of his energy into his 'prized' students – aka Lily Evans and Severus Snape – and didn't have the time or patience to properly guide those less gifted in the art.

The Draught of Peace was a much more complicated potion than the students realized. The only person to successfully brew it by the end of September was Severus Snape. Marlene had figured that he would have accomplished the potion much earlier on had it not been for Potter and Black's tampering.

It was common knowledge that the Marauders had a strong dislike for Snape. It was also not hard to figure out why as Marlene shared the same feeling of repulsion towards the Slytherin boy.

Severus Snape had long thin greasy black hair that hung limply down to his shoulders matched with a large pointed nose and, even by comparison to Marlene's pale complexion; if possible, he was even more ghastly pallid. Of course it wasn't his looks that earned him such a reputation as he could have quite easily been attractive if he had taken better care of himself and learned how to smile. Severus Snape was a bully, and by no means the same type that James and Sirius were, he was the stereotypical Slytherin that belittled all the mixed blood in the school and besmirching them for their impurities. This included his former best friend Lily.

Lily and Severus had been extremely good friends, that much Marlene knew of their friendship. It was nearing the end of fourth year that Severus became increasingly hostile towards others and his terrible attitude deeply affected Lily. She had spent several nights crying over the whole ordeal although she tried her very best to hide it. Marlene had never been able to figure out why Lily had befriended him but she knew that they had met prior to attending Hogwarts.

James Potter also knew about this friendship and Marlene often wondered if his constant pestering towards Snape was partly due in fact to his ties to Lily.

Regardless of the circumstances, Lily and Severus's friendship had been on a temporary hiatus since June when he had decided to call Lily a mudblood – a derogatory term used for muggle born Witches and Wizards or anyone that didn't have a 'pure' bloodline of magic.

It was on a chilly September morning during a double Potions class and Marlene and Remus were once again attempting to produce an acceptable Draught of Peace when Slughorn announced Snape's success.

Severus walked over to Lily and quietly started talking to her undoubtedly offering her some sort of advice on her potion.

Bang.

"Mr. Potter! Mr. Black!" Slughorn yelled with uttermost shock in his voice. This caused several heads to snap up and one potion to explode in the process.

James had also watched Snape approach Lily and even with her strong distaste for the boy, he did not deserve the trip jinx that was sent his way. It had caused him to trip, ultimately falling into Lily's scalding potion splashing her and Peter in the process.

"Oh!" Lily had screamed.

Several things happened at once. James and Sirius high fived while congratulating themselves with their success, Snape lay dazed on the floor with tiny budding flowers starting to sprout from his entire body, Lily and Peter both started to turn an off color green and Professor Slughorn looked ready to kill.

"That will be detention," he raged, "both of you, tomorrow night seven o'clock sharp at my office! Miss Evans and Mr. Pettigrew, would you kindly escort yourselves and Mr. Snape to the hospital wing."

"Those two never learn," Remus shook his head in disbelief but Marlene caught a small smile on his lips before it quickly disappeared.

"They never grow up," Marlene added, "is a more appropriate conclusion I think."

Remus looked at her and offered a chuckle. "I'm not too sure about that, in my experience they've grown up more than you've given them credit for. Although, it can be hard to see at times I'm afraid."

Marlene wasn't quite sure what to make of that statement. Of course she didn't know the boys very well so it was hard for her to judge them and for all she knew, Remus could be completely accurate. She was skeptical though and decided not to argue the subject.

"Did you see that Moony?" James had turned around now and was full out beaming.

"Unfortunately," Remus replied lightly, "I missed the majority of it."

"Greasy slime ball had it coming didn't he Padfoot?" James averted his question to Sirius who was doodling on a piece of parchment.

He only smirked in response.

"What do you think McKinnon?"

Marlene was startled that James was now looking at her expectantly. She looked up to meet his gaze and noted that both Remus's and Sirius's eyes were focused on her awaiting her response.

"Erhm," she mumbled. "What did he do exactly?"

"He existed," James said flabbergasted at the thought of such a silly question.

"Right," Marlene felt her defensiveness rising although she wasn't quite sure why she felt the need to defend Severus Snape. She quickly turned it around to reflect his immaturity, "I suppose its thoughts such as that that inevitably inflate your head James Potter. Perhaps its reasons like these that a certain red headed friend of mine thinks you're a pompous arrogant git who is unable to perform a single compassionate action towards another being. Perhaps you should come back to reality and act like of the rest of us mere mortals down on earth."

James mouth hung open slightly.

"Shut your mouth, Prongs, it's completely unattractive," Sirius Black grinned at his best friend and continued to doodle on his parchment.

Slughorn called to dismiss class and Marlene didn't waste any time scooping up her belongings and dashing out of the classroom. She didn't bother waiting for Mary and instead headed in the direction of the library where she knew she wouldn't be disturbed.

"He's not truly that bad," a voice from behind her cut her thoughts short, "James, I mean. He's really a great guy with good intentions and although I can't always defend his sometimes obnoxious behavior he really does mean well."

Remus had followed her out of the classroom and was now following her quick stride with complete ease. He offered an apologetic smile while he waited for her to answer.

"I'm not mad at him," she stated, "I think that Lily sometimes rubs off on me. Unfortunately, I wish it was her potion making abilities rather than her 'Potter is an arrogant bully' rant. You're a good friend Remus, I think James is extremely lucky to have a friend like you to defend his honor."

Remus laughed in amusement. "Believe me, Marlene. James definitely doesn't need me to do that for him."

After informing her that he was also heading to the library, the two continued the walk together offering small chit chat that did not revolve around their friends. Remus was also looking to perfect his transfiguration knowledge and offered to help her practice her vanishing spell during the lunch period.

"Thanks Remus," she smiled politely, "I really appreciate it."

By the end of the hour she was no closer to vanishing the feather than she had been the day before and her patience was starting to wear thin.

"I'm surprised I passed my Transfiguration O.W.L. at all," Marlene groaned as her latest attempt failed miserably.

"Just keep practicing," Remus offered in encouragement. "I'm not very good with Transfiguration myself so I'm sorry I can't be much more help."

They headed to Transfiguration together and he hesitated before sitting in the seat next to her. She felt a brief sense of appreciation for Remus and felt herself beginning to enjoy his company. She supposed that they could have become great friends earlier on had it not been for the other boys that he hung around. She felt blind to have never seen his true form before now and felt regretful for judging his character before getting to know him better.

Lily and Mary were slightly surprised to see the two in an animated discussion about their Defense Against the Dark Arts lecture when they entered the classroom ten minutes later and Marlene did not miss the suggestive looks that they exchanged between one another before sitting at the table in front of them.

"Good afternoon Moony, McKinnon," James nodded politely as he entered the room, completely bypassing Lily while he sat down at the table behind Remus and Marlene.

Marlene was shocked that he had gone two minutes in the same room as Lily without acknowledging her presence.

"Looking as radiant as ever, Evans, my dear." Lily stiffened.

"So, Moony?" he had leaned inwards between Remus and Marlene and was whispering in amusement, "How was that for nonchalant?"

Marlene and Remus exchanged looks and James was too busy staring at the back of Lily's head to pay them any attention.

"What's that all about?" She couldn't help but ask him when James had settled back into his desk and immersed himself in a conversation with Sirius.

"Erhm, James seems to think he's going to turn over a new leaf. You know, win over Lily," was his casual reply.

"I give it one day," Marlene bet jokingly. However, she lost her self-made bet when James was acting like the Potter that Lily knew and detested before the end of the period. He had shouted "Go out with me Evans, you know you can't resist me!" at her as they exited the room. Marlene glanced back to shoot him the usual glare and was met with an apologetic smile from Remus. Her face relaxed slightly and she offered a wave goodbye in reply.

* * *

><p>"Remus Lupin?" Mary asked reminiscently and watched a blushing Marlene flip through her transfiguration text book clearly in a state of fluster.<p>

"What about him?" Marlene said while being careful not to remove her gaze from her text. She was trying to play cool as she knew all too well what these interrogations meant – being the queen of them herself. If there was one thing Marlene had learned out of her own nonexistent dating life, it was how to get details out of her friends.

"Mary and I were just discussing earlier," Lily interrupted, "was how nice it was of Remus to help you out with your transfiguration."

Marlene appreciated the shooting stare that Lily was directing at Mary and she was fully aware that this was most definitely not the conversation they had been having. She welcomed the efforts of her friend, however, as she was absolutely too mortified to have this conversation with Madam Pince and the entirety of the school library within ear shot.

Mary frowned with frustration and Marlene knew from the look on her face that this was not the end of the conversation. They continued to work on their homework in silence for the next hour until Lily happened to glance at the clock and exclaimed that it was nearing eight o'clock.

Lily had enforced a strict study and sleep schedule that both Marlene and Mary were happy to oblige by. Marlene appreciated any extra help she could get with her studies and knew that Lily was by far the most capable of helping her achieve excellence.

The girls packed in their things and left the library in silence. Lily's mind was no doubt still wrapped in her Charms essay and Mary was unmistakably thinking up ways to reinitiate their previous conversation without seeming too obvious.

Marlene was thankful for any kind of distraction and it welcomed her in the form of Peeves, the pesky poltergeist, who decided that chucking raw eggs from directly above was an acceptable means to kill time. As the girls shrieked in horror it only encouraged Peeves further and they were forced to use their book bags as shields against the runny ammunition.

As they broke out in a run towards the staircases Marlene slipped on an open faced yolk, her bag dispensing its contents in the process and she fell forward into her scattered books. Mary and Lily had just climbed the staircase when it decided to change its position.

"Marlene!" Mary called after her but as the staircase was moving they were unable to return to their fallen friend.

"It's okay!" She called after them in her desperate attempt to shove all her books back into her bag, "I'll meet you upstairs."

After pelting Marlene with a couple of more eggs, Peeves finally decided he had had enough fun for the evening and he floated off cackling to himself. Marlene stood in the middle of the deserted fourth floor corridor drenching wet in egg yolks and trying to salvage the remnants of her textbooks and homework.

Her thoughts were cut short when she heard a boy's laughter travelling from the far side of the hallway. She stopped quite suddenly and her book bag – which was nearly full now – fell limply by her side. She directed her eyes towards the wall in which she had heard the noise and her eyes fell on a very stiff and paranoid looking girl.

"Oh," she said with a start. It had been her reflection in a large mirror that hung against the far wall. She relaxed slightly and shoved the last text book from her hand into her bag. As she moved to brush a strand of sticky blonde hair from her face she heard something creak and once again turned her attention towards the mirror.

She walked over to it and wondered how she had never noticed its magnificence before. It was old and weathered but had a glorious golden frame with encrusted emblems embedded into it. She felt very amused as she admired her current appearance and was thankful at the moment that the normally busy hallway was completely empty. She slung her bag over her shoulder and headed in the direction of the Gryffindor common room to find, no doubt, an extremely agitated Lily Evans and the bombarding inquisitions of Mary MacDonald.

After she had disappeared down the hallway and was well out of ear shot, the mirror swung open slightly and four boys emerged from behind it.


	3. Part One: Chapter Three

The beginning of October was met with a frosty and bitter cold. The trees, now barren, lost their once masterful colours of autumn; the leaves had fallen from their graces and covered the earthly floor in a blanket of red, orange, and yellow hues.

The school was buzzing with excitement for the upcoming Quidditch match which would mark the beginning of the season. Marlene had always been an avid fan of the sport ever since she was introduced to it in her first year. The only downfall to her fascination was the fact that Marlene was not gifted with the coordination of flying a broomstick, a fact that she had discovered when they had their first flying lessons and her dream of trying out for the team was a complete burst.

Still, she thoroughly enjoyed watching the sport and was anticipating Saturday's match against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

However, her excitement was stifled quickly as the week prior to the match proved to be extremely difficult. In potions, they had finally moved on from the Draught of Peace and were beginning to work on heavier research topics.

"Today's class," Professor Slughorn announced joyfully as he entered the room, "will be to continue work on your Chinese Chomping Cabbage diagram."

The entire room groaned and even Severus Snape's shoulders could be seen falling slightly in his disappointment. The task was not as simple as it had sounded when Slughorn had first announced the project and it was becoming unbearably clear that receiving an 'E' on her N.E.W.T.s next year would be difficult.

In addition to the failed vanishment spell, Transfiguration was continuing to be another challenging subject for Marlene. Not only was performing the spells increasingly more difficult, she was also suffering from finding an interest in the various spell definitions that they were working on along with a rather extensive essay on an advanced conjuring spell. Professor McGonagall was 'preparing them for their N.E.W.T.s' a fact that flabbergasted Marlene since they had barely begun sixth year.

In Charms, however, they had moved on to silencing. They first practiced with bullfrogs and, once mastering that, moved on to ravens. As much as she had struggled with her Potions and Transfigurations, Marlene had a much better time accomplishing this task; something that comforted her as she buried herself into the numerous other things that did not.

Just as quickly as she had been looking forward to the Quidditch match, Marlene realized that she was far too overwhelmed with the amount of homework that had crept up on her and concluded that she might have to forfeit in order to catch up.

She had modified her study schedule slightly so that she was getting up earlier and staying up later than Lily and Mary; something that Lily scorned her for quite harshly.

"If you don't get proper sleep Marlene McKinnon, you will run yourself down!"

"Lily," Marlene said tiredly, "While I appreciate the concern I am perfectly capable of handling this."

She could be found in all of her spare time studying in the library and promptly at eight o'clock Madam Pince would usher her out and she would move up to a quiet corner in the common room where she would continue until all hours of the night.

"Well, it's time for bed," Lily had announced as she put down her quill from the Charms essay she had been writing. This particular evening Lily and Mary had broken pattern and stayed up late to finish up the remnants of their homework before the weekend. The three girls were sitting comfortably around the fire in the deserted common room as the other students had already called it a night. "I trust that you will be joining shortly?" She was looking inquisitively at Marlene in a motherly concerned sort of way as she packed up her books slowly.

"Lily," Marlene smiled. "Don't I always?"

"Don't expect me to answer that honestly Marlene," Lily half-heartedly smiled back. As Lily was an extremely studious person, she would never argue back about putting time and energy into homework. Marlene was thankful for that much even though she knew that Lily had been right, she was exerting far too much into her studies for her own health.

Her normal classes were sailing smoothly and it didn't take her long to catch up on the majority of the homework that she had been assigned. She was still struggling with her Potions and Transfiguration though, and found that her extra hours were absorbed by re-reading the same sentences from lack of interest and understanding.

Lily and Mary had disappeared upstairs to bed and Marlene sighed. She twirled her quill between her fingers and bit her lip in contemplation.

She was struggling to complete the essay that Professor McGonagall had assigned well over two weeks ago. The majority of her problem was that she had left the essay to the last minute and the library was already closed for the evening. She had been working on her Inanimatus Conjurus essay for Transfiguration for well over an hour before she looked down at the parchment in front of her and frowned heavily with frustration.

"The Inanimatus Conjurus spell is an extremely difficult spell," a masculine voice from behind her read the first line off her paper out loud.

Marlene jumped slightly. She had been unaware that anyone else had been in the common room and was completely oblivious to the fact that someone had entered in through the portrait hole and was now standing directly behind her.

"Sorry," he chuckled lightly.

Marlene turned around and was flashed a dazzling smile from Sirius Black. She smiled feebly and turned back to face her essay. "Yes, well ... it's not very good, I can agree with you on that."

"How can you determine if it's any good?" He questioned jokingly. He moved around the sofa and sat down in the empty space next to her, leaning back slightly to a position of ease. His face was half illuminated by the glowing fire's magnificent embers and Marlene could see that he was smirking slightly. "You only have the one line."

She felt a slight flush of embarrassment. Of course, he was absolutely right. She only had the one line written down so far and she mentally kicked herself as she realized she had spent the better part of an hour on it.

"Yes, well ... "she mumbled in embarrassment.

"Did you need some help?" His offer was sincere and Marlene was taken aback for a brief moment. She turned to study his face which was looking quite intently at her. His greys eyes were sparkling and he had that same playful smile tugging at the corner of his lip.

"Don't you have better things to do?" She found the words coming out of her mouth without intending them too.

"Of course," he replied casually, "It really depends on what your definition of 'better things' is though. Since you look quite miserable, and I'm quite good at Transfiguration I thought it would be a good use of my time to offer some assistance, but if you're too proud ..."

He was smiling. It was a very egotistical and haughty smile that gave Marlene the urge to shake him senseless. He was very good at Transfiguration and both he and Marlene knew it. She would be silly if she didn't accept his offer.

"Proud?" She replied dryly, "If that's how you charm girls, Black, you are sorely uneducated on the matter."

"Charm?" his eyes lit up and he pulled out his wand, "Oh McKinnon, if I was trying to charm you I'd just do this." He pointed his wand at her – to which she flinched slightly – and whispered "Orchideous."

A beautiful bouquet of pink and yellow orchids and chrysanthemums sprouted from the tip of his wand and blossomed into a full and extravagant floral masterpiece right in front of her. Her brown eyes widened and she could feel her mouth hang open slightly as she stared down in amazement at the advanced magic he had just performed.

"Like I said," he was smirking again, "I thought it'd be a good use of my time but what do I know?" He moved the bouquet away from Marlene and the flowers suddenly shot back into the wand tip. Sirius stood up from the couch, winked casually, and turned to the direction of the boy's staircase.

"Wait!" Marlene found her voice and regained her composure.

Sirius turned to look at her and she stared into his eyes for a few moments. Although he still looked sincere, Marlene was fighting with the part of herself that told her not to trust him.

"How did you do that?" She demanded. "We aren't supposed to learn that until next year as its N.E.W.T. level?"

"I'm sorry," he ignored the question, "was that a 'Yes, Sirius, I would love for you to help me'?"

Marlene gritted her teeth slightly in agitation and Sirius continued to look at her expectantly.

"Yes, Sirius," she finally acknowledged, "I would love for you to help me."

* * *

><p>With the unexpected help of Sirius Black, Marlene was able to swiftly move from her Transfiguration essay immediately on to the remaining research she needed to perform for her Potions diagram. Lily had been pleasantly surprised when Marlene informed her that she had completed the Transfiguration essay. Lily was even more surprised when she proof read the essay and noted the sheer excellence of the writing.<p>

She didn't have the guts to tell Lily that she had received help and she was even more inclined to hide just who she had received the help from. Sirius Black caught on though, he had overheard the entire conversation and offered a wide grin to Marlene when she failed to acknowledge his part in the matter, something he seemed to be good at – listening in on private conversations, that is.

She felt wrong hiding such a trivial piece of information from her friends but it must have been what Black had said, she was too "proud" first off to even accept his help let alone make it public knowledge that she had.

Saturday, the day of the Quidditch match, arrived soon enough and Marlene was excited to find that she had completed all of her homework and was free to spend the day watching the match.

"I'm not quite sure why you find it so fascinating," Lily pondered at breakfast when Marlene asked her friends to join her for the game. "I think I'll pass today and read ahead for Potions class. Professor Slughorn informed me that we will be looking at Confusing and Befuddlement Draughts soon and we may even get to attempt them before the Christmas holidays."

Lily was part of Professor Slughorns 'Slug Club.' It was a club that Slughorn invited all of his promising students to attend and while Marlene had never been invited, she was always eager to find out what heads up information he would slip to Lily. Today, however, she was completely uninterested in what potential Potions they might be brewing in the future and opted to meet Lily in the library at the conclusion of the match.

Mary decided to join Marlene and she was fairly certain that it was largely in part due to the fact that Davey Gudgeon was a chaser on the Ravenclaw team. Although Mary had neglected to offer any more information on her relationship status with Davey, she could be found disappearing occasionally during study sessions with such lame excuses that even Lily couldn't buy them anymore.

It was a beautiful day outside; the sun was shining and, apart from the slight autumn breeze, it was warm enough to believe it was still September. Marlene and Mary followed the crowd out to the Quidditch pitch and settled into the bleachers to watch the commencement of the game.

Mary was slightly surprised when the four Marauder boys took the seats beside them. She offered a small glare to James when he inquired where Lily was but otherwise refused to acknowledge their presence. Remus offered a polite smile and wave which she was unable to ignore.

"Good morning Marlene," he said politely, "Mary."

"Good morning Remus," she replied.

Mary looked over at him and smiled before turning her attention back towards the field where the two teams were beginning to mount their brooms.

It had been an exciting first half hour and Ravenclaw was the sure favourite to win the game. They had been off to a good head start, managing to lead the score seventy to zero. Davey was undoubtedly showing off his talents and Marlene was left wondering whom he had been showing off to as seventh year Bertha Jorkins would giggle madly from three rows ahead every time he performed a loop. Mary was completely caught up in the excitement of things and failed to notice. She was constantly leaning over to whisper "isn't he wonderful?" or "he sure can fly, did you see what he just did there?"

James Potter was thoroughly amused by this. He began imitating Mary every time one of the players made an impervious move. Although his friends - and even Marlene at times - thought that his antics were quite amusing, Mary found them to be quite distasteful and excused herself after an hour to go sit with some of Davey's Ravenclaw friends.

"You're friends are so uptight," James leaned over to talk to Marlene, "do any of you guys know how to take a joke?"

Marlene gave him a blank look before turning back to watch the game. She supposed that to James Potter and the Marauders it would look like everyone else was born without a funny bone. Ever since their first year they had made an image for themselves that deemed them kings of Hogwarts tomfoolery. The trouble was that, although many of their pranks were in fact funny, more often than not they were hurtful to those that they were directed at. Of course Marlene would never tell them this and she was fairly certain that Lily's strong dislike for James revolved around the consequences of their behavior rather than their intent to get a laugh.

The game ended when a seventh year Hufflepuff named Amos Diggory caught the snitch hovering right above the Ravenclaw goalpost and he almost knocked the Ravenclaw keeper off his broom in the process.

"Diggory's gotten good since last season," James mused quite seriously to Black. Marlene could tell that their interest in the Quidditch match was more for spying tactics than general interest since both of them played on the Gryffindor team. It was the considerate musings between the two of them in between their jokes and the occasional taunts of students sitting around them that gave them away.

As the students began descending from the bleachers Marlene watched her friend Mary rushing towards the pitch no doubt in an effort to console an infuriated Davey who had just snapped his broom in half.

"That bloke sure has a temper," Peter mumbled just loudly enough for Marlene to hear. She turned around nodded her head in agreement at him.

"What does she see in him anyways?" Sirius asked quizzically. His eyes seemed to be focused on the couple but his bored tone indicated to Marlene that he didn't seem all that interested.

"Perhaps it's because he plays Quidditch," Marlene joked lightly and James face lit up almost instantly.

"I play Quidditch," he said happily, "don't suppose Evans has heard?"

"I think it'll take a lot more than playing Quidditch to win her heart," Marlene smiled lightly. "Keep dreaming Potter."

"Marlene!" Mary's voice echoed up from the bleachers below. The sudden sound caught Marlene off guard and her attention on Potter diminished almost immediately. She whirled around to look in the direction of her friend.

Mary was sobbing hysterically, her eyes were streaked with fresh tears and her blotchy red complexion was swollen. She looked quite helpless and Marlene instantly felt a surge of protective instinct when she saw the pleading look in her friend's eyes.

"Sorry boys," she said apologetically, "thanks for the chat."

She didn't even wait for a reply before dashing down to the lowest levels of the bleachers and enveloping Mary in a hug. Mary clung instantly to Marlene's school robes and buried her head into her shoulder deepening her pathetic sobs and crying freely into the fabric.

Marlene was unsure how long they sat on the bleachers of the Quidditch pitch before Mary's hysteria had calmed down enough for her to walk coherently back to the castle. Marlene guided her back, resting her arm across Mary's shoulders and offering encouraging words of support. She had still yet to discover the cause of Mary's breakdown but judging by the way Davey Gudgeon looked when they passed him in the hallway Marlene was quite certain there was a good chance that they had broken up yet again.

Lily came rushing towards them once they reached the second floor looking completely radical and out of breath.

"Oh my goodness," she panted lightly while throwing her arms around Mary, "It's going to be okay, Mary. Let's get you back to the dorm."

"How did you know?" Marlene asked Lily after they had gotten Mary back to the Gryffindor common room and up into their dormitory. Mary had flopped down on her bed and drawn the curtains around her wishing to be left alone. Marlene and Lily were happy to oblige as neither of them had eaten since breakfast and headed to the great hall for dinner.

"Potter came to let me know," Lily frowned slightly. "Probably one of the more decent things he's done lately." And that was the end of that discussion as Marlene knew better than to talk about James Potter.

* * *

><p>They didn`t spend much time in the library after dinner, just long enough to read up on the Befuddlement Draughts that Lily had suspected they would be taking up next and grabbing some books that Lily thought might help Marlene with her Transfiguration practice.<p>

"Not that you need it now," she had smiled, "you did such a fantastic job on that essay. I believe you're really getting a grasp of the topic now."

Marlene nodded her head; still in denial about admitting to Lily that Sirius Black had been the one to guide her through the basics.

Once Madam Pince had practically pushed them out of the library so that she could lock up, Lily and Marlene headed back to the Gryffindor common room where they were more than surprised to find Mary nestled into a chair in the corner reading a letter with a large smile on her face.

"Hey," Marlene said cheerfully, "How are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm great," Mary bubbled happily as she pointed to her letter. She passed it off to Lily to read whose face contorted into anger only sentences in.

"You don't buy this crap, do you Mary?" Lily passed the parchment to Marlene and it was evident what she was referring to. It was a letter from Davey addressed to his 'one and only' and very sweetly written.

"What?" Mary frowned.

"You're better than this," Lily shook her head in distaste, "He obviously has a temper problem and you deserve better."

"Look who's talking," Mary said so defensively that she caught both Marlene and Lily off guard. "I really like Davey and he was really upset that he lost today's match. Everyone makes mistakes Lily, last time I checked friends were supposed to support each other."

Normally Lily and Mary got along rather well and this was the first time that Marlene had seen them cross with one another. Lily was trying to control her anger from what Marlene could see and Mary was looking completely and utterly furious. Mary snatched the letter from Marlene's hands and disappeared up the stairs to the girls dormitories.

"He's such a jerk!" Lily finally released an exasperated sigh after the sound of Mary's footsteps had died away from the winding staircase.

The next morning was slightly tense as Lily and Mary had opted out of speaking to one another. By the time the girls had headed down for breakfast they were on polite speaking terms only to ask small things such as "please pass the jam" and "thank you." This carried on all through the better half of the morning and by lunch time Mary had wandered off to meet up with Davey a matter in which Lily chose to keep her disapproval to herself. By dinner time Mary and Lily had completely gotten over their disagreement and the subject of Davey Gudgeon was buried in the back of their minds.

The girls spent the rest of the evening playing exploding snap and were surprised when the Marauder boys decided to join them. Luckily, Lily and James avoided each other, something everyone was thankful for and Marlene was happy to spend some quality time unwinding before the weekend ended.

She took a few moments to observe the peers around her. Lily was absorbed in the book that she had been talking about all summer, James was hunched over and scribbling furiously away at a piece of parchment that she suspected was a forgotten homework assignment and Peter was watching the current game with such intensity. Mary and Sirius were engaged in an extremely violent game of exploding snap and had barely uttered two words to each other all match; Sirius's face was molded in what appeared to be sheer concentration and Mary continued to make funny faces every time she contemplated her next move. Marlene's eyes landed on Remus and instantly felt pity for him as she looked at the swollen circles surrounding his eyes, briefly wondering whether he was having just as much luck with their workload as she was.

"So MacDonald," Sirius said casually as one of her cards exploded. "I hear you're dating that Gudgeon fellow from Ravenclaw?"

Mary looked defensive as she tilted her chin up slightly. "So what if I am?

Sirius laughed and looked skeptically at her.

Marlene inhaled sharply and looked nervously at an apprehensive Remus before looking at Mary. She looked quite furious and Marlene supposed that having to defend her boyfriend twice in a twenty four hour time period would probably be exhausting.

However, Mary chose not to say anything and proceeded to take out her frustration in the card game causing Sirius's cards to explode in his face three times in a row.

"Are we still ... you know?" Marlene caught Peter whispering to James, his eyes pointing towards the portrait hole.

"Shhh, Wormtail," James whispered back furiously. His eyes darted around to everyone else to check if anyone had been listening. Marlene looked away quickly as James's gaze passed over her and she assumed that she had been discovered as he refused to say anything further.

When the common room had emptied the girls decided it was time to go to bed and the four boys bid them goodnight but remained around the table insisting that they were going to play another round.

"See you tomorrow," Remus smiled sweetly causing Marlene to blush lightly at his kindness. She smiled politely to the other boys before heading over to the girl's staircase. As Lily and Mary climbed upwards, Marlene's curiosity got the better of herself and she hung back slightly and strained her ears towards the common room.

"Do you have the map?" Remus's voice was saying.

"I solemnly swear I'm up to no good," that was James.

"Did you guys bring the cloak?" Peter piped in.

"Shhh Peter," Sirius hushed fiercely. "McKinnon's still in the staircase."

Marlene wasn't sure how they knew but she wasn't prepared to stick around to find out. She hurried up the staircase and proceeded into her dormitory where Mary and Lily were already getting settled into bed.

"Forgot something downstairs," she offered to their questioning looks before dashing into the bathroom to brush her teeth. As she settled into her large four poster bed her head nestled into the pillow comfortably and she closed her eyes to drift off into a restful sleep. When she realized that she wasn't even the slightest bit tired she tossed the blankets off of her and shuffled over to the window to gaze at the night sky.

It had always been something that brought her ease back at home and she had insisted on plastering the glow in the dark stars on her ceiling when she was six. As she sat on the ledge, her chin resting in her hand, she looked out over the peaceful Hogwarts grounds. The almost full moon was a sparkling reflection on the giant lake and it danced in the slight ripples of the water's current. Everything was quiet and she felt her mind slipping into a peaceful trance when a slight movement on the far corner of the grounds caught her attention.

It had only been a flicker and she strained her eyes to find where it had come from but was unable to pinpoint the source of movement. She turned her attention back towards the night sky when her peripherals caught a glimpse of movement once more. She turned her gaze quickly back towards the forest and noticed that the Whomping Willow had started frailing frantically as though defending itself.

_Odd._

And quite suddenly it stopped moving, almost as though it had been frozen, and for one brief moment Marlene could have sworn she saw the figure of a person standing beneath the tree before it disappeared. Marlene blinked. As she looked out over the grounds she found them to be once more completely motionless and eerily quiet as though it had never been anything but.


	4. Part One: Chapter Four

The weekend of the Hogsmeade visit approached quite quickly and Marlene was overwhelmed with excitement at the prospect of focusing her attention on things other than her studies. Even Lily had expressed her excitement to visit honey dukes and stock up on her dwindling supply of chocolate frogs.

"School is great," she had exclaimed that morning, "but there is just something much more enticing about grabbing a butter beer and not having to worry about which essay is due this week."

It was relaxing to say the least that Lily had finally settled into a comfortable routine and was well ahead of her studies. Mary had decided to spend the day with Davy and both Lily and Marlene had bid her goodbye in the dormitories as she was opting to skip breakfast to sleep in a little longer.

"No doubt those two will end up at Madam Puddifoots," Lily smiled knowingly and Marlene couldn't help but laugh in agreement. "I doubt we will see her until supper."

The Marauders were already in the great hall eating breakfast when they arrived and Marlene settled in the seat next to Remus to help herself to some hash browns and toast. They had been engrossed in what appeared to be a very dramatic plan to hex Severus Snape in Hogsmeade and they were quick to change the topic when they noticed Lily's disapproving glances between them.

"So," she mused simply, "What do you boys have planned for the afternoon?"

It was sort of an odd site seeing Lily speaking with voluntary politeness to the boys but James had been exceptionally well behaved in the recent weeks and Lily seemed to be more tolerable to their presence.

James and Sirius looked between each other mischievously and offered her some lame excuses involving visiting Zonko's and grabbing a butter beer. Although Marlene assumed that they had every intention of doing such activities, she should have known better than to guess that they would share their infamous secret plans to play-by-the-rules Lily Evans. Lily raised her brows questioningly as if she too doubted the sincerity to their answer but she did not say anything further.

Marlene's attitude was challenged when the daily mail came soaring in; a flurry of brown, grey and white. At least a hundred owls came soaring in dropping the same larger than average rectangular manila envelope in their owners laps.

There was a brief moment of awestruck silence at the sheer collaboration of colour before the hall increasingly became more aware that they were not delivering good news.

There were a few hysterical outburst from somewhere at the Hufflepuff table followed closely by shrieking from the Ravenclaws and even some hysteria surmounted somewhere a few seats down from Marlene. In a mere matter of moments it became mass chaos as the great hall erupted into pure panic; half of the students not quite sure what had just transpired while the other half seemed to be in complete distress.

The professors were rushing around collecting various students, some of which had fallen to the ground sobbing manically, and Sirius managed to snatch up one of the letters that had fallen to the ground feet away from their table.

"Dear Miss Prewett," he began reading aloud to whoever was in earshot of him. "We regret to inform you of the impending attack of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that occurred promptly at six o'clock this morning in the southern quarter of London."

Sirius's face went pale and he stopped reading out loud. His grey eyes moved speedily down the rest of the page and they began to harbor such a strong horror stuck emotion that Marlene was almost thankful he had stopped reading.

"Padfoot," James said firmly. "What does it say?"

Sirius handed the letter to his friend and James face contorted into the same look of sheer disbelief in mere moments after skimming down the parchment.

It had become quite clear to Marlene as she looked around frantically at the disarray ensuing before her eyes, that there had been an attack that morning and based on the amount of hysterical students that she could see, or at the very least hear, she assumed that the aftermath of the attack did not leave very many survivors.

"I need to speak to my parents," James said quickly before dashing out of the great hall almost running over a second year student in his wake.

Within minutes the majority of the students who had received news that they had lost a family member were quickly escorted away while those that had not heard from their families rushed to the owlery to send a desperate message to their loved ones.

The day was quite sombre after that and it was quite evident that the Hogsmeade trip had been cancelled. Marlene joined the rest of the group as they walked slowly back up to the Gryffindor common room. James met up with them a half hour later and sunk into the empty seat next to Peter.

"Everything all good?" Sirius asked quickly. His brows were knotted into a sincere concern for James' parent's well-being and Marlene couldn't help but feel encouraged by such a loyal act of compassion between the two boys.

"They're fine," he breathed with relief before he buried his face into his hands, "for now."

The end of his sentence threw the group of peers into a stunned silence as what he had said took its time sinking in. It was true that Voldemort was quickly gaining power and it was nothing new for the occasional murder to plague the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. This latest occurrence changed perspective, however, as it had been the largest mass murder to occur yet. It was becoming quite clear that the days ahead were going to be met with trepidation.

"The last thing Dumbledore should have done is cancel this Hogsmeade trip," Sirius raged quite suddenly, breaking the awkward silence lingering between them. He was looking away into the distance with such frustration that Marlene was almost afraid to speak.

Lily did not seem too affected by his threatening gaze as she was quick to reply, "In case you weren't aware, Black, about twenty percent of the students here were just informed that someone they know was murdered. How on Earth do you figure we should all be off gallivanting around Hogsmeade right now?"

His gaze turned to meet hers and the tension in the air surmounted immediately. His eyes were flashing dangerously as though he was daring her to say more and his body seemed tense, almost poised defensively as though it was natural instinct for him.

"The last thing that this school needs is to feel fear," he finally said coldly. "While we're holed up in this prison all we have to think about is what dangerous and terrifying things the outside of these walls has waiting for us. We are left to sit here in complete solitude and horror instead of distracting ourselves with the idea that there are still good things left for us in this world."

Sirius removed his gaze from Lily and reverted back into a distant gaze focusing somewhere outside the window. The silence remained as it seemed nobody was brave enough to break it.

"Let's go to Hogsmeade then," James suggested finally after a few quiet moments. Lily frowned and it seemed that she was about to start the second argument of the hour. However, she remained silent and dropped her gaze to her lap.

"How would we do that?" Marlene asked curiously. She was not opposed to the idea of spending the day in distraction. In comparison, her own woes were nothing but pathetic with that of the tragic events that had occurred but she couldn't help but feel that the combination of both were causing her far too much stress to be sitting in the common room dwelling on it.

"Erhm, we have a way," Remus said slowly. He was looking between the gazes of the other four marauders and it became obvious to Marlene that he was unsure that they should be revealing this information.

Sirius had the same look of nervous skepticism etched into his features and he was quickly glancing back at Lily to read her expression.

"Do what you boys want," Lily finally said, "I don't need or even want, for that matter, to know."

She stood up from her chair and proceeded to the girl's staircase where she quickly vanished from sight. Mary looked longingly out the window before sighing deeply and making the decision that she was not prepared for the consequences of such actions and joined Lily upstairs.

"McKinnon?" Sirius asked eagerly.

Marlene looked up to discover that all four boys were waiting on her answer. She bit her lip and tried to pick which side of her inner battle was going to win. She was eager to discover just how the Marauders always seemed to have a never ending supply of Honeyduke's candy and Zonko's practical gags as well as the fact that she would rather spend her day enjoying a good laugh and taking a break from studying; something that no doubt Lily and Mary were currently engulfed in upstairs. On the other hand she had never broken the rules before and the thought of sneaking out of the castle truly terrified her.

"We don't have to if you don't want to go," Remus suggested after sensing her uneasiness. "We could just hang out here and play some Wizards chess?"

"No I want to ... " she replied quickly.

"Great," James stood from his chair and the other boys followed suit. Without even realizing that she had given a solid answer she found herself being guided out of the portrait hole and down the hallway leaving her to discover quite swiftly which part of her inner battle had conquered.

The halls were completely empty which made it quite simple for the conspicuous five students to go undetected. They were halfway along the third floor corridor when they made a quick stop in front of a statue of a hump backed witch. Marlene looked around incredulously expecting to find the reason for their stall such as Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris but she was surprised to find that James had pulled out his wand, tapped on the statue and whispered "Dissendium."

The statue, in fact, concealed a large opening that Marlene was fascinated to discover led to the cellar of Honeydukes. The short tunnel from the school was spent in complete silence; Marlene was completely awestruck that these boys had discovered such amusements in their time at the school and wondered what other secrets they had learned.

"Of course," Peter interrupted her thoughts as they came to an abrupt stop at the end of the passage, "This information is strictly confidential."

She nodded her head in agreement and Sirius pushed upwards on a trapdoor above them. He peered out for a moment before pushing the door open fully and climbing out of the passageway. His hand reached back in and offered it to Marlene who was briefly taken aback at such chivalry.

"I don't bite," he smiled jokingly creating Marlene to flush with embarrassment. She grabbed hold of his hand and he pulled her up with ease into the dusty confinement of the Honeyducks cellar.

After they had all moved from the passage, Peter shut the trapdoor and pushed a wooden crate over top to mark its location. Once they had all moved from the passage, Peter shut the trapdoor and pushed a wooden crate over top to mark its location. The five moved swiftly towards the staircase that led up into the shop and they took their turns one by one ascending in order to avoid looking obvious. Marlene went second, after Sirius, and she found him admiring some sketchy looking cockroach clusters when she emerged. The look on his face suggested that they were not for him and Marlene assumed that he had far more notable intentions for their use in mind.

Once the other boys had made their way upstairs they combed through the store looking to restock their inventory. Marlene helped herself to some Fizzing Whizbees, Liquorice Wands, honey-coloured toffee for Mary – it was her favourite, and some chocolate frogs for Lily's stash. They spent only a quarter of the hour in the shop as it was already quite desolate in wake of the day's events and were afraid that staying in one place for too long would draw far too much attention.

Once they exited Honeydukes Sirius, James and Peter opted to venture to Zonko's and would meet up with Remus and Marlene at the Three Broomsticks shortly.

The two of them walked in silence towards the entrance of the Three Broomsticks. The air outside was bitterly cold and white flurries were dancing scarcely, almost taunting, with the promise of winter and Marlene was regretful that she had not had time to grab her winter cloak before they had left the castle. Remus guided her towards a table close to the back after the barmaid gave them a curious look; no doubt completely aware of the fact that they were not supposed to be there.

"She's really good," Remus said casually after they had settled down at a booth in the far corner, well out of earshot of the miniscule amount of people that were even in the bar. "We come here quite regularly," he looked slightly embarrassed at revealing such a fact, "she's never said anything to Dumbledore yet.

Marlene relaxed slightly and let the warmth of the tavern comfort her. The butterbeer was definitely needed and she felt her body warm instantly again the moment it touched her lips. She felt grateful for Remus in that moment despite the overwhelming sensation of deep remorse for what had transpired in the morning. She kept her silence, contemplating exactly how she could possibly begin a conversation to break the awkward tension that had built between them.

He broke the silence first by conversing lightly about the upcoming Quidditch match against Slytherin, something that Marlene had let completely slip her mind in the past few weeks of being concealed away in the library. She was all too eager to immerse herself in the conversation and her worries were quickly pushed to the farthest corners of her thoughts.

"James and Sirius have been studying the teams over the last year," he mentioned good naturedly, "I'm actually really impressed with all of the information they've been able to compile for their strategy this season. Of course, most of it was acquired by spying but of course they'll never admit to it."

Marlene laughed heartily and appreciated the information that Remus was willing to share with her. Although it was nothing in comparison to the many secrets that she knew the boys were hiding, she was completely content that she was finally able to see a little into the world of the Marauders. They weren't actually as bad as she had initially believed them to be and she was ashamed to admit to herself that she hadn't given them enough credit.

The conversation drifted onto the topic of Defence Against the Dark Arts – a class that both Remus and Marlene thoroughly enjoyed and excelled at.

James, Sirius, and Peter walked in to join them about a half hour before they needed to return to the castle for supper and were pleased to announce all of the miraculous gags that they had purchased at Zonko's. The conversation quickly turned to Severus Snape and exactly how the Cockroach Clusters Marlene had seen Sirius eyeing earlier would play their part in their upcoming prank on the Slytherin boy. Marlene was happy to sit back and listen in on the boy's discussion and was delighted that they felt comfortable enough to have such a conversation in front of her.

Promptly at four o'clock the five students scourged down their remaining drinks and hurried out into the harsh cold. The weather had changed drastically since Marlene and Remus had entered the bar and she was shocked to discover the thick blanket of snow that covered the ground. She shivered and threw her hands upwards to warm her arms before they dashed across the street towards Honeydukes.

Getting back into the cellar was much harder than it had been coming out as the store was even emptier than it had been earlier in the day. Once they had all managed to make it into the basement, Peter pushed the crate off of the trapdoors opening and they all descended into the cool darkness of the secret passageway.

The walk back was far more pleasant than the one to Hogsmeade and James and Sirius continued talking about their plans for all the products they had purchased. The atmosphere was completely flip side from that of the morning and nearly all five students had forgotten about the tragic start to their day until they were once again within the embrace of the Hogwarts castle.

As they neared the end of the tunnel James stopped and pulled out a piece of parchment.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he whispered to it. Marlene watched him curiously as she rekindled a memory from the previous month in which she had heard the exact same phrase.

"What is that?" she demanded but she was ignored by all four boys as they watched James intently for him to speak. Sirius stepped quickly in front of her, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as stared at her confusion, his large mass blocking James and the parchment from her view.

"Not very good with mysteries, are you McKinnon?" he said smugly but he was smiling.

James looked up and nodded to the group before saying "Mischief managed." He folded the piece of parchment and tucked it away and proceeded forward out into the hallway of the castle.

Nobody bothered to answer Marlene after that and she felt annoyance that she had gotten so far with their trust only to end the perfectly good day with more questions about their secrecy.

* * *

><p>Lily was a good sport about Marlene's decision to sneak out of the castle. In fact, she chose to pretend that it had never happened. She did not acknowledge Marlene's return to the dormitory; rather she continued speaking to her as though she had been there all along. Marlene decided that it would be best to give the girls their candy another day after the tension had died down slightly.<p>

"How was it?" Mary asked from behind her Charms text book.

"It was good," Marlene said simply, "I had an excellent time."

Neither Lily nor Mary pushed the topic further and they headed down to the great hall together for supper.

The next few weeks leading up to Halloween were met with much more apprehension in the mornings. Any time the daily mail came in there was a large unison intake of breath from the students; each dreading the same thing.

Fortunately, for the majority of the Hogwarts population, only one person received the unfortunate letter everyone was hoping to avoid and surprisingly it was also the first Slytherin student to receive it.

Once again immersed within her studies, Marlene barely had time for any social activity which meant that the Marauders were the last thing on her mind. She fell back into the same study routine with Lily and Mary and found that the library served as her sanctuary.

It was the day of Halloween that Marlene finally had a breakdown from all the stress. The morning started out alright, as any regular day could, and Marlene was looking forward to the Halloween feast and the weekend that awaited the end of her day.

Although the morning had started out good, it quickly declined after breakfast as her schedule observed all her least favourite classes; Double Potions, lunch, followed by Arithmancy. It was easy to assume that Marlene was in a pretty foul mood following the end of the last period and she headed towards the library to work on a forgotten essay for Herbology. Lily had prefect duties and Mary had, undoubtedly, wandered off to spend some alone time with Davey so Marlene made the familiar walk alone.

Severus Snape was walking ahead of her and he stopped to sneer at her in disgust before exiting into the narrow corridor towards the Transfiguration classrooms. Marlene failed to really notice.

Part of the problem was that she hadn't been paying attention. Of course, Marlene was too stubborn to ever admit that she had been far too engrossed with her own musings to bother looking around her as she passed down the second floor corridor on her way to the swiveling staircase that would lead her to her destination. Had she been paying attention she probably would have noticed that the hallway was unusually quiet.

The other problem was that Sirius Black and James Potter hadn't been paying attention either.

Marlene let out an ear piercing shriek as a large stink bomb propelled from down the hall and exploded at her feet. The attack was quickly followed by at least a half dozen more, all releasing the same putrid odor and causing her vision to become completely obscured by the foul smoke they expelled. Marlene dropped her book bag and began coughing immediately as what appeared to be stink pellets collided with her jaw. The attack lasted mere moments but the damage had been done and Marlene was quick to learn that the objects had been jinxed to cause complete disorientation. She fell to the ground next to her book bag, the corridor spinning out of control and she felt a sudden wave of nausea pass over her.

She could make out the two forms of the Gryffindor boys running towards her but they were a jumbled blob of color and she closed her eyes to wane off the feeling of uneasiness in her stomach. She was having a hard time concentrating on what was going around her but she managed to catch bits of their conversation.

"McKinnon? Are you okay?"

"Padfoot why didn't you check the map!"

"I did, he was right here!"

"Oy, Marlene, can you hear me?"

"What in Merlin's name is going on down here?"

Professor McGonagall had appeared from the narrow corridor off to the right. She had obviously heard the commotion from her office and came to check on things. Marlene opened her eyes slightly when she heard a large gasp and the sound of footsteps running closer. Professor McGonagall was leaning over her with a look of urgency on her face. Marlene couldn't help the sudden wave of nausea and she found the remnants of lunch finding their way back up.

"What have the two of you done?" McGonagall was raging. The loud noise was causing the dizziness and pounding of Marlene's head to swirl in aggravation and she groaned in protest. She felt someone tugging at her arms as if to lift her to her feet and she could feel the weight of her body give out from under her. The last thing she remembered was that someone grabbed onto her tightly before she hit the ground and then everything went black.

When she finally awoke a few hours later she opened her eyes to the unfamiliar white walls of the infirmary. Marlene had never been inside the hospital wing before and it took her a few moments to realize exactly where she was. Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse, was busy on the opposite side of the room and had failed to notice that Marlene was now awake. It wasn't until Marlene began to feel the painful throbbing in her head and let out a groan as an appropriate response that Madam Pomfrey turned her attention towards her.

"Oh good, you're finally awake," she replied firmly. She bustled over with a glass vile in her hands and handed it over to Marlene.

Marlene looked skeptically at the vile; it was a murky green color and smelled closely to that of rotten eggs. Madam Pomfrey looked expectant though and Marlene pinched her nose before downing the contents in one gulp.

The pain subsided almost immediately and Marlene felt the spinning in her head start to ease.

"You poor girl," Madam Pomfrey looked at her with sympathy, "It's lucky that you passed out for the majority of it, that jinx was rather nasty and it took me a few different concoctions to figure out how to remove it."

Marlene was still slightly foggy on the details of the day's events. She remembered that she had been on the way to the library and after that all she could remember was a thick blanket of smoke and that awful putrid smell.

In fact, she could still smell it. Marlene sniffed loudly trying to hold on to that familiar scent and reached towards a strand of her hair. She pulled it towards her nose and took a giant whiff and magically the memory flooded back to her like a ton of bricks.

"You'll definitely need a good shower," Pomfrey wrinkled her nose in disgust, "although I was able to reverse the side effects, there wasn't much I could do about the stench."

Marlene laid her head back on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling as Madam Pomfrey walked to another student a few beds down. She blinked a few times before her emotionless demeanor turned quickly to anger. She felt like a complete idiot being pranked by James and Sirius and she couldn't believe that she had, days before, thought they were misunderstood.

Marlene was also frustrated to discover that she had missed the Halloween feast; something she had been looking forward to for weeks. The clock on the wall read ten o'clock which meant that she was obviously staying the night in the hospital and she would be unable to see her friends until the morning. Although, Madam Pomfrey did later inform her that Lily and Mary had been there for well over an hour before she had kicked them out.

Sleep came easily for Marlene, no doubt a positive side effect of whatever potion Madam Pomfrey had administered and she had little time of consciousness before drifting off into a deep slumber.

Once the sun was streaming in through the windows, Marlene looked hopefully to Madam Pomfrey for her release. After administering a final dose of the repelling medication, Marlene was sent on her way and she hurried back to the Gryffindor tower to shower before breakfast.

As she entered her dormitory she noticed that it was already empty. She assumed that the girls had already headed down to the great hall for breakfast and she wasted no time stripping down and running herself a hot shower. Marlene showered quickly, having to wash her hair three times to strip the foul odor emitting from her tresses. She couldn't figure out the best charm to rid her robes of their stench and threw them off to the side in the hopes that Lily might have better luck later.

The great hall was still full which meant that she hadn't missed breakfast and she smiled happily at the thought as her stomach growled hungrily in protest. She spotted Lily and Mary sitting in the middle of the table and they waved her over when they caught site of her.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Mary exclaimed dramatically, flinging her arms around Marlene in a gigantic hug.

"I've already reamed them out," Lily said firmly. She was looking pointedly down the table at the four Gryffindor boys who had not noticed Marlene's addition to the group. "I can't believe that they did such a disgusting thing, Professor McGonagall was furious. She gave them each one month of detention and the only reason we didn't lose any house points is because she felt that it was unfair to deduct considering that the victim of the attack was from the same house."

Marlene grabbed one of everything within her reach and began stuffing herself with food. She hadn't eaten anything since the previous day's lunch and was feeling the toll it was taking on her body. After several glasses of orange juice, three scones, bacon, and hash browns, Marlene declared that she was full and pushed her empty plate away from her.

"Incoming," Mary whispered hurriedly and both Lily and Marlene looked to the same direction that Mary's gaze was concentrated on. The Marauder boys had risen from their seats and were now walking towards them on their way out of the hall. Sirius caught sight of Marlene and his face looked pale and fell slightly, something that Marlene did not fail to notice.

She stood up quickly, Lily and Mary followed suit, and the three girls hurried to exit the great hall before the boys had reached where they had been sitting.

"McKinnon!" they could hear James yelling from behind them but Marlene indicated to the two girls that she had no intention of speaking to them. Not yet anyways.

They spent the afternoon playing exploding snap in the common room and when they tired of that they engrossed themselves in girl talk, Lily even venturing to inquire about the progress of Mary's relationship with Davey; a subject that was rarely touched upon.

To her pleasure, neither James nor Sirius attempted to speak with her again. Marlene had thoroughly enjoyed her day and even welcomed Remus's offer to play a game of wizard's chess after dinner. Lily and Mary continued their conversation in the far corner while Marlene and Remus moved towards a more optimal location by the window.

"You know," he started as he moved his pawn forward, "it was an accident, it was intended for Snape ..."

"Remus," she said warningly, "I'm really not in the mood to discuss what happened yesterday, and I am most certainly not ready to forgive them. If you asked me to play wizards chess because you wanted to play, that's one thing. If you asked me to play because you wanted to gloss over the situation then you are completely wasting both of our time."

He backed off, apologizing, and the two continued to play their game in silence until Marlene felt the tired waves of a long and scrupulous day flood over her body. Overall, she had experienced a good day; one that was relaxing and carefree and she felt excited that she still had another day to unwind before classes on Monday. The best part of it all was that it had been nearly Marauder free and tomorrow she was determined, would remain completely free of James Potter and Sirius Black.


	5. Part One: Chapter Five

November was welcomed with a glistening veil of white over the grounds. The trees were shimmering with tiny crystallized icicles and the giant lake was frozen over with a thin layer of frost. Although the image was quite breathtakingly beautiful, the temperature was cold enough to keep even the most mesmerized admirers indoors.

The Quidditch match of Gryffindor and Slytherin occurred the second Saturday of the month; one week after Halloween. Marlene was anticipating the match as a distraction from her studies which she had full forcedly stepped up on in the last week. She was starting to feel the academic pressures of her end of the year finals and she was definitely not the only one. One Ravenclaw student actually broke down sobbing in the middle of their History of Magic lecture claiming that he didn't understand the equation. Everyone was slightly baffled until it became clear that he was so stressed out that he believed he was still in his Arithmancy class.

Her Transfiguration was still defeating her confidence. She had, however, managed to make a slight improvement in her Potions. She had earned an appreciative nod from Professor Slughorn in her last class as he passed by her table; something that she was completely caught off guard with but appreciative nonetheless. Still though, she was not making any improvements with Transfiguration and the much needed distraction was met readily by her the morning Saturday rolled around.

Marlene was joined by Lily and Mary and the three girls made sure to bundle themselves appropriately before seeking out seats at the pitch.

Lily had used a handy warming charm so that the chilly winters breeze would not affect them; a charm that Marlene made a mental note to learn later.

The Gryffindor team entered the pitch from the side tents and the crowds began cheering loudly. It was apparent with the difference of volume which team the majority of the school were routing for. Marlene watched as James scanned his head eagerly through the crowd before spotting them and instinctively shot his hand into his messy excuse of a hairdo. He waved vigorously in their direction, no doubt intended for Lily who blatantly ignored his efforts.

"And they're off!" the announcers magically magnified voice filled the pitch quite suddenly. A flash of red and green lifted from the ground as the teams kicked off.

"Potter's got the quaffle and narrowly dodges the bludger sent his way by Wilkes, nice maneuver there Potter! He's attempting to barrel through Black and Avery ... what in Merlin's name does he think he's ... he feinted right – amazing! - passing off the quaffle to team mate Hooper and just narrowly dodging the infuriated rages of Lestrange!"

Remus had been right when he said the boys had been studying the other teams. It was clearly evident in all their moves that they knew exactly how to read the forthcoming actions of the other team. The crowd was definitely engaged in the match and many chose to verbally express their feelings with 'ooh's' and 'aww's' in all the appropriate places. There was even a moment when Potter rolled upside down on his broom at the last minute to fly between two beaters causing them to smack one another with their clubs. Lily scoffed and rolled her eyes accordingly.

"Of course he would take the opportunity to show off like that," she muttered under her breath but Marlene caught a small smile playing at the corner of her lips.

It was definitely a longer match than usual, although you couldn't tell by watching it as every piece was captivating for those watching. Marlene cheered loudly along with the crowd as another quaffle made it through the center hoop.

"Hooper scores again, that's one eighty to sixty in favor of Gryffindor!"

The crowd continued cheering loudly, including Marlene who was completely mesmerized with the pure excitement ensuing on the field. She caught a glimmer of the snitch hovering above Slytherin's left goal post moments before the two seekers became overwhelmed in a race to reach it first. It was a blur of red and green and the stands became quiet as everyone held their breath, waiting to see who would get to it first.

"Kirke and Smith have spotted the snitch! They are neck in neck now, both of them unable to pass one another ..."

"Come on Kirke, come on!" Marlene muttered under her breath. She balled her fists together tightly and bit on her lip a little harder than she should have, causing her to draw blood.

In the few inches from where the snitch had been hovering, Green pulled ahead. The crowd gave a collaborative groan of disapproval – minus the Slytherins who began cheering loudly.

Suddenly, Rebecca Smith came to a complete halt noticing that the snitch had disappeared. Dennis Kirke, the fourth year Gryffindor seeker, pulled a sharp left to miss running into Smith and dove downwards instead.

The snitch could be seen glimmering a few feet off the ground and there was a sharp collaborative intake of breath from the surrounding crowd. Even Lily had grabbed Marlene's arm in a vice grip that could compare to that of a boa constrictor.

"Ouch Lils," Marlene said appropriately.

"Sorry," Lily flushed apologetically before the two girls focused their attention back to the field where Kirke was reaching for the glimmering object mere inches from his fingertips.

WHAP

A bludger from nowhere collided with his outstretched arm and a yelp of pain could be heard emitting from him as he tumbled off his broom and onto the field a mere two feet below.

The Slytherins in the crowd went wild.

The offending beater appeared to be Wilkes who was laughing manically. He was quick enough to dodge the bludger sent at him by an enraged Sirius.

"And Black directs a bludger back at Wilkes who narrowly dodges it, darn, nice attempt there Black! Sorry Professor, I'll try to keep it neutral! Kirke appears to be unmoving on the pitch while Madam Hooch and Madam Pomfrey go to inspect the damages. Smith is still frantically looking for the snitch, and Potter scores yet another point for Gryffindor! Nice shot Potter!"

Dennis Kirke was trying to sit up but it was clear from his efforts that his arm was in severely bad shape. Madam Pomfrey was leaning over him trying to inspect it when something shiny appeared flittering beside her ear. She swatted at the object in annoyance but it was apparent that whatever it was had captured Kirke's attention so that he was unable to sit still for her assessment.

"Sit still Mr. Kirke," she could be heard saying.

"Look," Marlene hissed in excitement and she pointed at the object as Dennis Kirke lunged past a frazzled Pomfrey, pushing her aside into the grass and using his good arm to grasp the Snitch that had been flittering around her head.

"Gryffindor wins!" the magnified voice screamed loudly across the pitch. It wasn't until the announcer declared this revelation that the crowd's confused buzzing erupted into pure ecstasy for the victory. The crowd hadn't even noticed that Kirke was grasping hold of a glittering gold object as they were too engrossed in their relief that the snitch had moved before Smith had gotten to it.

Apart from the Slytherins, the only other person that seemed dissatisfied was Madam Pomfrey who was face down in a pile of dirt and unwavering to the apparent apologies emitting from Kirke's mouth as his team mates surrounded him, ignoring the battered arm hanging from his side, and lifting him into the air in a gigantic wave of celebration.

Even Lily had been involved in the game and she was jumping up and down in her excitement screaming "we won, we won!"

The Gryffindor common room became a huge celebration later that evening and the Marauders were quick to supply the students with butterbeer, gillywater, and even fire whiskey. Knowing full well that they had snuck out of the castle to acquire the drinks, Lily had pursed her lips in disapproval but decided against saying anything. She had even joined the festivities by taking a butter beer that James had offered to her with a polite "thank you Potter." It seemed that the other prefects had the same attitude as many of them could be observed with a glass of fire whiskey in hand, acting completely ignorant on the matter.

The girls had decided to join in on the celebrations, a fact that Lily probably regretted immensely after James caught one of the fifth year boys flirting with her. He had cast a Jelly-legs jinx in the direction of Aaron MacFarlan earning a reproving glare from Lily and about a dozen not so pleasant words.

"And here I thought he was beginning to become more tolerable," she sighed heavily after she had finished giving James' a piece of her mind.

Marlene had been having a good conversation with Dennis Kirke about the game when she felt someone tug at the sleeve of her sweater.

"Can we talk?" It was James.

Marlene looked dubiously at him before turning her attention back to Dennis who had already been swept away by someone else. She frowned since she was left without an excuse to ignore him any longer and turned her gaze back to him once again.

"I thought it was pretty clear, Potter," she said dangerously, "That I really want nothing to do with you."

"Awe Mckinnon, you're sounding like Evans," chuckled Sirius to her left. She glanced sideways at him and noticed that they had cornered her in. She was definitely unable to avoid them any longer, something she was pretty certain of given the current circumstance. She looked around desperately for her friends to rescue her but knew Lily was avoiding James like the plague.

"Relax," James said quickly obviously noticing what she was looking around for, "We just want to apologize."

"Okay," she said shortly.

"Okay?" James asked in confusion.

"Apologize then," she looked at him expectantly before returning the same gaze to Sirius.

"We are truly sorry, McKinnon," Sirius said quite sincerely, "It was supposed to be for Snape, we were careless and didn't stop to make sure that we had the right person before we, uh, bombarded you with jinxed dungbombs."

James also looked apologetic and Marlene continued to look between the two for a few moments. She was still angry with them, not for the fact that they had assaulted her after she had begun to think they were becoming friends but more so for the fact that they were every bit as disgusting and arrogant that she had initially believed them to be. She was mostly annoyed with herself for letting herself become influenced by them and even more so that she actually felt compelled to forgive them.

She blinked. "Is that all?"

"Erhm," James stuttered, "I guess so ...?"

Marlene moved to push past them but Sirius grabbed hold of her arm. He was quite strong and she flinched slightly at the firmness of his hold on her. He loosened slightly but his grasp remained. She looked at him expectantly and noticed that he looked annoyed. His eyebrows had creased together and his grey eyes were void of emotion.

"The noble thing would be to forgive," he stated pointedly.

Marlene looked at him with a blank expression. She felt her tolerance wear thin but managed to hold her composure. She leaned inwards to his face so that he was only inches from her; something that was difficult as he was a few good inches higher than she was. Her hazel eyes met his and she stared into them for a moment, almost daring him to push her further.

"I forgive you," she whispered dangerously, "but I don't have to like you right now."

"Fair enough," he answered back.

She yanked her arm from his grasp, holding eye contact for a split second more before she turned on her heel and pushed through the duo. She continued walking further into the crowded common room looking desperately for her friends but they were nowhere to be found. She sighed deeply to herself and conceded that they had probably gone to bed. Not being ready to retire, she managed to strike up a conversation with a few seventh year boys that she did not know, completely oblivious to the fact that those brilliant grey eyes didn't turn away from her once for the rest of the evening.

* * *

><p>Transfiguration was extraordinarily dreadful once Monday rolled around. After the students had successfully vanished their feathers they had moved on to snails. Marlene was completely beside herself in misery after Professor McGonagall announced that they were going to move on to vanishing mice. The task was harder than it looked since the students now had to vigorously concentrate on the splinching aspect of their vanishment spell as mice tended to move around quite a bit.<p>

Marlene was barely able to acceptably vanish a feather, let alone a snail and she was most definitely not ready to work on mice. Professor McGonagall called her up to her desk the moment the class had begun working on the assignment and Marlene grudgingly made the trip to the front of the room.

"Miss McKinnon," she said sternly, "I understand that you are still experiencing difficulties with this particular spell?"

"I've been practicing," Marlene said hurriedly but she was silenced by her Professor almost immediately.

"I have no doubt that you have been, Miss McKinnon. However, as I understand it you want to pursue a career in Healing. I was remarkably impressed that you had obtained an 'E' on your O.W.L.s last year; I had no doubt that with a little dedication you would accomplish that. I am noticing that you have regressed immensely since the end of last term and I am afraid that you are not going to be prepared to take the N.E.W.T. level Transfiguration."

Marlene's face fell slightly as Professor McGonagall finished her sentence. She had been afraid of this conversation for some time and was certain that she would be getting bumped from the class. As if reading her thoughts McGonagall spoke once more.

"I think you should strongly consider putting in a bit more time to perfecting your skills. I have no doubt that you are a very studious student, Miss McKinnon, but sometimes skills take a bit more practice than they do studying. I believe there are a few gifted peers of yours that you could ask for assistance. We can reassess in the new year."

Marlene nodded and headed back to her seat. Lily smiled sympathetically from the seat beside her.

"Evanesco," Marlene said dejectedly; the feather's edges vanished slowly leaving gaps so that the object looked battered instead of transparent. She looked at it miserably and tried again with absolutely no success.

"You lack confidence," Sirius interjected her. He had leaned over from the table behind them and was whispering into her ear. She nearly jumped out of her seat at his movement beside her.

"Relax," he said softly. He pointed his wand at the half vanished feather, "Evanesco."

Marlene was unsure how his spell sounded any different than the one that she had used but nonetheless the effect was completely polar opposite. The feather disappeared instantly, not slowly, and most certainly not in pieces. She looked at the place where the feather had been only moments before with deep envy before scowling with frustration.

"You also need to use better concentration," Sirius said casually, "that's why you're having such a difficult time."

"I don't have a problem with my concentration or confidence, Black," she said with irritation. She knew that she was in a losing battle because he was absolutely correct. She was not prepared to let him know that she felt this, although the confident smirk he kept flashing her gave her the indication that he already knew.

"I think we've got it from here Black," Lily added with a courteous nod. Sirius shrugged and moved back into his seat.

Marlene continued attempting to vanish the feather for the better part of an hour with no improvement. Sirius didn't offer any more advice and anything Lily offered didn't seem to make much difference. By the end of class she was annoyed with herself and chalked the class up to be nothing more than a colossal waste of her time.

"How am I supposed to concentrate better when I have a million other assignments going on," Marlene asked defeated as the two girls made their way to Arithmancy.

"I hate to side with Black," Lily said tonelessly, "but he's right you know, you really need to work on your confidence."

"I know," she sighed. "Just don't tell him that."

Marlene settled into the Gryffindor common room immediately after dinner instead of the usual visit to the library. She grabbed a secluded corner and pulled out a long eloquent feather from her book bag. She sat it on the table in front of her and stared at it for a few moments.

"Okay Marlene," she muttered under her breath. "Concentrate."

She closed her eyes and whispered "Evanesco."

She opened her eyes and realized that nothing had happened. The feather sat unaffected in the exact same place that it had been before and not even a fraction of it had vanished. She scowled and tried again. Her second attempt managed to get about a quarter of an inch of the tip to disappear but the rest of the feather remained quite observable.

"You're hand movements are all wrong," Sirius had plopped down into the seat across from her. She looked at him emotionlessly before trying a third attempt to no avail.

"I don't see how I'm doing it any differently than you," she finally gave in after the fourth attempt produced the same patchy effect she had achieved earlier that day.

"Close your eyes," he said softly and she complied hesitantly. "Now picture the feather on the table. Envision it exactly how it is, where you placed it, the color, shape, and size. Can you see the feather?"

"Yes," Marlene said skeptically.

"Good, now imagine it disappearing slowly. Concentrate on the edges slowly fading away, followed by the inner parts of it. Then once that's all disappeared picture the entire feather vanishing from your mind so that all that's left is the empty table."

"Okay," Marlene let her mind try his exercise and when the table was empty she opened her eyes to look at him questioningly. "Now what?"

"You'll want to move your wand like this," he moved from his chair so that he was bent down beside her chair and grasped her wrist gently.

"When you cast the spell you'll want to move your wand downwards ever so slightly like this and then flick it to the left."

"Am I not doing that?" Marlene stared at her hand in confusion. She allowed Sirius to guide her movement a few times before he let her hand go and plopped himself back into the opposite chair.

She practiced the movement a few more times, accepting correction from Sirius once before she felt confident enough to attempt it on the feather.

Marlene closed her eyes again and raised her wand. She began imagining that the feather was slowly disappearing as she whispered "Evanesco." The feather in her mind began to dissolve into nothing until it was just the same empty table she had seen before. She opened her eyes and was completely shocked to discover that the actual feather was almost completely vanished in front of her.

"Definitely an improvement, McKinnon," he said swiftly, "I told you that you needed to concentrate better. You need to focus what it is that you want your spell to accomplish in Transfiguration, that's the secret to being successful. Having the correct hand movements doesn't hurt either."

"Thanks," Marlene smiled feebly at him.

Sirius shrugged and removed himself from the table to join his friends by the fire. Marlene turned her attention back towards her practice but found that her mind was unable to continue focusing on images of vanishing feathers; instead she found her eyes wandering back over towards the four Gryffindor boys who were engaged in an aggressive game of exploding snap.

* * *

><p>"Fancy a game of Wizards Chess?" Marlene had cornered Remus in the hallway on the way back to the common room from the library. Lily had ventured off for prefect duty and Mary was undoubtedly snogging Davy in a broom closet so Marlene had been left on her own. She had had enough studying for one day and her concentration on the book that Lily had been recommending fruitlessly was not drawing any interest. She had spotted Remus alone in the hallway and felt inclined to make the proposition.<p>

"Oh Marlene, I'm sorry. My grandma is extremely ill again and I'm actually leaving tonight to go visit her," he said sympathetically, "maybe when I come back?"

"Oh," she said, surprised. He offered a small smile before catching sight of his friends at the opposite end of the corridor. He waved and quickly made his way to the group of boys who rounded the corner in the direction of the astronomy tower.

She didn't know why but she suddenly felt irritated. Remus was always gone, offering some lame excuse after another about where he was going. She felt bad accusing him of this - What if his grandmother really was ill? Still, she couldn't help but feel like he had been lying to her and she felt her annoyance return at the thought that even Remus Lupin didn't want to spend time with her.

She took the long way back to the Gryffindor common room; making sure to venture around corridors that she hadn't been down in the last few years. She finally found herself facing the portrait of the fat lady and as she stared up at her – the fat lady becoming annoyed with waiting – she realized that she didn't want to go inside. She continued to stand in the corridor, lost in her own thoughts when the sound of looming voices broke her train of reflection.

"- so we'll meet up with Moony tonight then?"

"The transformations should be fully complete this time"

Moony. Marlene recognized that nickname as the one that Remus had. She whirled around as the voices turned the corner and she was face to face with wide eyed Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew.

"What did you hear?" Sirius hissed fiercely. Marlene was slightly taken aback; she had never heard such venom in his voice before and she was thrown into a stunned moment of silence.

"Nothing," she said slowly. Sirius's eyes flashed dangerously and their gazes locked for what seemed to be an eternity before she shifted hers away. "Get over yourself Black. Acromantula."

The fat lady huffed with irritation before sliding forward to reveal the entrance and Marlene wasted no time getting inside so as to avoid the menacing daggers that Sirius seemed to be shooting her way. Once inside the room she was pleased to discover that Lily and Mary were engaged in a game of Wizards chess.

"I thought you were doing prefect duties?" she asked incredulously.

"They ended at 8," Lily smiled victoriously as one of her game pieces smashed Mary's pawn to pieces.

"Davy's got Quidditch practice," Mary added nonchalantly as though reading Marlene's mind.

After the girls had tired of playing chess, Marlene grabbed her History of Magic book and decided to review through a few chapters before heading to bed. She curled up in front of the fire place in the nearly deserted common room and cracked open the large book to begin her studies.

She couldn't remember how much reading she actually accomplished before she found herself dozing off into sleep. She realized this when she was awoken by the sound of a creaking staircase and hushed voices. Marlene lay still on the couch, barely conscience, and willing her body to drift back into slumber. Slowly, however, the noises in the common room were enough to overpower her subconscious and she became adeptly aware of the familiarity of the voices speaking behind her.

"You two take the cloak, I'll hang back for a bit then follow behind."

"Padfoot, we can just squeeze."

Marlene couldn't hear the response and she assumed that it was either a nonverbal answer or just too inaudible for her to hear. The sound of the portrait hole opened and closed quietly and Marlene lay motionless on the couch. The common room remained eerily quiet for a good ten minutes and Marlene began to believe that she was, in fact, alone. She felt the presence of sleep overpower her once again and her mind began drifting into a peaceful slumber when the sound of the portrait hole opening and closing for a second time startled her out of it. She sat up from the couch and looked around to discover that nobody was in the room with her and that the fire had already died out.

Her eyebrows creased suddenly as she became fully aware that the Marauders were definitely the ones that had just left the room and no doubt sneaking out of the castle.

_Moony. _

Marlene felt a surge of anger as she remembered the conversation that she had overheard earlier that evening. Not only were the boys sneaking out of the castle, Remus had lied to her about his sick grandmother. She felt disgusted that the boy she believed was so different than his pompous friends was, in fact, no different than the other three.

Curiosity got the better of her and Marlene hopped off the couch and over towards the portrait hole where she wasted no time exiting through and into the dark and deserted corridor.

As the portrait shut behind her she realized that the fat lady was missing from the frame which meant she was unable to change her mind and go back. Marlene took a deep breath and carried forwards, careful to stay in the shadows as she tiptoed towards the marble staircase leading down towards the sixth floor.

She wasn't entirely sure where she was headed as the Marauders were nowhere within her sight ahead but her feet carried her onwards as though they knew where to lead her. The castle was quite different at night then it was in the daylight and Marlene had to force herself not to waste time looking around. This was the first time in her six years at Hogwarts that she had ever been out past curfew and the thrill of the excitement was causing her unbearable delight.

She felt instant relief from all the tension she had been feeling the past few weeks as she glided in and out from behind statues and niches in the walls. She darted past the windows where her figure cast a shadow along the moonlit corridor, though she moved quickly enough that had you blinked, you would have missed it. It wasn't until she reached the fourth floor that her nerves got the better of her and she faltered slightly as she finally began to realize that she had no idea where she was going or what she was going to do if she did find the boys.

She stopped outside the bathroom and looked around the fourth floor corridor. Although it was completely deserted, she couldn't help but feel a looming apprehension. There was a slight sound from the far end of the corridor and Marlene's heart skipped a beat. Her stomach dropped and the excitement she had been feeling moments prior completely vanished and turned into panic.

"Shhh!" She felt a hand clasp around her mouth and her first instinct was to let out a scream. Her body went rigid and the hand clamped down harder over her mouth. She could feel the person's breath on her neck and she relaxed slightly when the voice whispered, "its Sirius."

He removed his hand and Marlene turned around to face him. He was only inches from her and looked extremely irritated.

"What –"she started to say but she was cut short when his hand flew up to her mouth to cover it once more.

He grabbed hold of her arm and began pulling her further back towards the wall. They moved gracefully and quietly until they were standing in front of the gigantic golden mirror that Marlene had once admired. Sirius pulled out his wand, muttered something under his breath and the mirror popped open slightly revealing a dark and sketchy looking pathway.

Marlene didn't have time to think about what was happening as Sirius pushed her into the passage and quickly followed behind making sure to pull the mirror closed behind him. They both stood in complete darkness and Marlene would have thought she was alone had it not been for the confinement of the space forcing the two of their bodies to be crammed into one another against the wall. She could feel his hot breath on her face and hear the beating of his heart as he pressed up against her.

"Are you going to –" she started again and was once more silenced by him.

"Shhh, McKinnon!"

She stopped breathing immediately as she heard the reason for his shear madness. There were footsteps echoing down the corridor in which they had just been standing, and the sound of Filch, the treacherous caretaker, could be heard talking to his cat Mrs. Norris.

"I know there are students out of bed," he said tauntingly, his voice growing closer, "I will find you, there isn't anywhere in this castle that you can hide from me."

Marlene felt Sirius's body snicker slightly at the comment and she felt relieved that he was confident that they were safe. They both remained still and silent until the footsteps died down and disappeared completely. She could feel Sirius's body relax and he moved away from her.

"Lumos," he whispered. The small space was suddenly filled with the light that illuminated from his wand tip and his face was revealed to have a serious scowl etched into his gorgeous features. She watched him carefully, trying to judge his emotion before saying anything. He did not offer to speak first.

"Thank you," she mumbled quietly. Even though she knew it was dark she was still afraid that he might be able to see the scarlet flush that she could feel burning into her cheeks. His face relaxed slightly but his grey eyes continued to burn into her, eventually causing her to look away.

"What are you doing?" he asked finally after the silence became almost unbearable.

"I was following you," she said bluntly. The scowl returned to his face and she stared back at him blankly.

"Why on Earth would you want to do that?"

"Because Remus lied to me, you guys were going to meet up with him tonight and it bothered me that he lied to my face about his grandmother," she felt pathetic. The realization of her admittance sounded even sillier when spoken out loud than it had in her head and she felt embarrassed with herself. Sirius seemed to find it amusing, however, his face broke out into a gigantic grin and he chuckled lightly.

"You're crazy, McKinnon," he continued grinning, "Remus left earlier this evening, he won't be back for a few days. James, Peter and I were heading to the kitchens for a snack."

"Then why did you guys split up?" she felt curiosity get the better of herself as she remembered that Peter and James had left a good ten minutes prior to when Sirius had exited the common room. She searched his face for clues that he was lying to her but he flashed his dazzling smile whilst looking completely amused about the whole situation.

"Don't you think that three sixteen year old boys wandering the halls together would seem a bit conspicuous? We always split up when we sneak out, McKinnon, otherwise we'd get caught."

Marlene felt even more embarrassed than she had earlier and she was thankful that Sirius was being a good sport about it. She still felt annoyed with him, especially now that she felt like a fumbling fool before him but nonetheless appreciative that he had saved her from Filch.

"We should get you back," he said suddenly. He pushed lightly on the mirrors back side and it creaked slightly as it pushed outwards. He stepped forwards out into the corridor before offering his hand to help her through. She looked at him dubiously, although he probably couldn't see it in the dark, before accepting it and joining him. He shut the mirror behind her and motioned her to follow behind him.

The walk back to the common room was definitely filled with more tension than the walk from it as Marlene was fidgety with the prospect of being discovered. The thrill of excitement had died down and every little noise seemed to make Marlene jump.

"Relax McKinnon," Sirius whispered to her as they passed the prefects bathroom and towards a corridor leading up towards the seventh floor. They moved silently up the marble staircase leading towards the portrait hole and Marlene felt relieved as they rounded the corner where the image of the fat lady was sure to be waiting for them.

"Good evening Mr. Black, Miss McKinnon."

Marlene felt her heart drop into her stomach. She could sense Sirius tense up beside her as they looked towards the fat lady and noticed the figure of a very stern and furious woman standing in the pathway. Professor McGonagall held up a lantern so that her face became illuminated for Sirius and Marlene to confirm that she was, indeed, extremely angry.


	6. Part One: Chapter Six

Marlene supposed that receiving her first detention wasn't all that bad considering she got off easy with only the one.

Sirius, on the other hand, was already serving the one month detention he had received when he had pulled the dungbomb prank on Marlene and he was dished out an additional week's worth. She supposed she would have received the same punishment had it not been for Sirius who was quick to tell Professor McGonagall that Marlene had caught him sneaking out of the common room and was only out past curfew to bring him back so as not to lose them anymore house points.

Marlene's apparent 'act of nobility' did not seem to impress Professor McGonagall. Although, it did seem to decrease the harshness of the punishment that Marlene had received.

She was also unsure how she felt about the story Sirius had concocted. She was far too horror struck in the moment to disagree with Sirius's account of events and opted to play along by nodding her head, afterwards thinking how obviously silly the story must have sounded.

After they had been thoroughly yelled at in the dead of night and their punishments handed out, Professor McGonagall personally escorted them into the common room to see them off to their dormitories. As Marlene entered her dorm she had been relieved to discover the other girls fast asleep and she was quick to crawl quietly into her own four poster bed succumbing to sleep almost immediately.

The next morning Marlene was faced with the dreadful realization that she would need to explain herself to her friends who were oblivious to the previous night's events. The task was exceedingly far more difficult than she had imagined and she was spared an introduction to her story when Professor McGonagall approached her at breakfast.

"Miss McKinnon," she said so strictly that Marlene flinched slightly.

"You will serve your detention Thursday evening with Professor Slughorn. He has informed me that he has various tasks that he needs help with so please make sure you are at his office promptly at 7 o'clock."

Lily had a look of complete disbelief while Mary adorned wide eyes and a slightly gaping mouth; the bagel in her hand fell limp and left forgotten.

"Detention?" Lily said bewildered after Professor McGonagall had drifted down to the opposite end of the table where she was currently talking to Sirius.

"Erhm, about that ..." Marlene said quietly. She grabbed her glass of orange juice and raised it to her lips. She pretended to take an extra-long drink as her friends stared at her in complete disbelief.

Eventually, she ran out of juice and was forced to set the empty glass on the table. As she fidgeted with her fork she quickly briefed them on the previous night's events, carefully trying to gloss over the minor details so as to hurry through the story.

"Well that was just silly," Lily said with a shake of her head.

"Obviously," Marlene muttered quietly. However, Lily heard it and frowned in distaste as a response. Mary kept quiet only raising her eyebrows slightly as if to voice the same opinion and Marlene was grateful that the conversation was dropped as soon as the daily mail arrived.

It was unfortunate that at least two more students at Hogwarts received devastating news about attacks at breakfast; one of which was a fellow Gryffindor student that happened to be sitting a few chairs down from the girls.

"Poor girl," Mary sighed sympathetically as the third year student was whisked away in a fit of sobs by her friend. Marlene watched with sadness for her fellow student's misfortune and the topic quickly changed to that of the recent attacks since October and Marlene was quick to forget about her own troublesome worries.

As the girls hurried out of the great hall on their way to Herbology, Marlene was too absorbed in their conversation to fully be aware of where she was going. As they rounded the hallway, Marlene found herself planting face first into the chest of an unknown student causing her to fall backwards; her book bag scattering its contents around her. Luckily for her unexpected victim, he was rather sturdy and was less impacted by the encounter as he only flinched slightly and managed to remain standing upright.

Marlene, flushed with embarrassment, began shoving her bags exposed contents back into their rightful place. Lily knelt down and began helping her and an unfamiliar hand grabbed hold of her potions text book just as she reached for it.

"Here you go," the voice said charmingly. Marlene moved her gaze upwards and into a pair of dazzling green eyes. The boy smiled warmly at her and she felt herself falter to string a sentence together in appreciative thanks.

"Sorry," she mumbled incoherently to which the boy laughed lightly with a shrug of his lean muscular shoulders.

He stood up in front of her and offered his hand to help her up. He had neat dark chocolate brown hair and a pair of green eyes that could easily surpass the intensity that Lily's omitted. He was extremely tall and from what Marlene could make of him, definitely a seventh year. Marlene hesitantly accepted his hand and their eyes lingered in a locked position for a moment before she removed her gaze to scan the vicinity for any missed belongings.

"Take it easy Marlene," the boy smiled again before returning to the group of friends he had been walking with before disappearing around the corner and out of sight.

Marlene was snapped out of her reverie of his charm and good looks as Mary pushed at her shoulders a little more firmly than she had probably intended. Marlene turned her attention to her friends, both of whom were giving her inquisitive looks, and shrugged her shoulders.

"Who was that?" Lily said flatly as Mary began giggling with a mad sense of femininity.

"Bertram Aubrey," Mary replied dreamily. Lily and Marlene looked at her with a sideways glance, both curious how she knew the answer to this question. They proceeded on their pathway to Herbology and Marlene was left defending herself from a mixture of taunts to her lack of coordination and her secretive rendezvous' with Bertram who Marlene swore that she had never set eyes on before.

"He knew your name," Mary said pointedly when Marlene stated this.

"A lot of people know my name," she said with irritation, "that doesn't mean that I'm snogging them all in a broom closet."

"Who's McKinnon snogging in a broom closet?"

They had finally reached Herbology and Marlene was disdained to encounter herself face to face with James Potter. Mentally kicking herself for not keeping her voice lower, she was forced to ignore him in retaliation.

"Bertram Aubrey," Mary said in between giggles and even Lily managed to crack an amused smile as Marlene's face became etched with a look of menacing horror.

"That seventh year git?" Sirius Black wrinkled his nose as he joined in on the conversation. Much to Marlene's horror she was becoming quickly aware that their private conversation was now the full focus of an additional unwelcomed three – Remus, it seemed, had indeed departed Hogwarts to tend to his sick grandmother.

Marlene was saved from the embarrassment of the conversation as Professor Sprout silenced the class from the front of the greenhouse. She dutifully ignored the elbow to her ribcage as Mary tried once again, unsuccessfully, to avert her attention and managed to bypass the piercing stare that Sirius seemed to be shooting at her by instead focusing her gaze on the frayed patchwork of Professor Sprout's battered hat. Much to the approval of Lily, Marlene managed to make her priority concentrating on the class – "If only you would focus like this in Transfiguration!" Lily had said approvingly when Marlene shushed Mary after she proceeded to bring up the conversation as they began to work.

The rest of the class seemed to fly by effortlessly and Marlene was quick to forget about the aimless taunting of her friends. Even Mary seemed to forget the topic of Bertram Aubrey as they trudged their way back towards the castle an hour later and the rest of the day blended together with an ever increasing opportunity for more homework to be added to the already insurmountable pile awaiting Marlene.

The girls continued with their evening study ritual until dinner in which Lily excused herself for prefect duties and disappeared in the opposite direction from Mary and Marlene as they exited the great hall.

"Davy and I have a wonderful plan for next weekend," Mary sighed romantically but Marlene was only half listening. She glanced off into the distance of the corridor and the glow of the candlelit hallway blurred together into a dreamy appearance. Her thoughts drifted off, first starting at the impeccable mound of homework awaiting for her in the library and then casually shifting to her previous night's adventure with Sirius.

Other than their casual encounter earlier in the day, neither had bothered exerting the effort of confronting each other on the events that had transpired. Although Marlene knew that it had been her own fault for getting both of them caught, she was being stubborn and was barely able to admit it to herself, let alone apologize to Sirius.

It comforted her to recall the look on his face when McGonagall had approached him that morning about his punishment. He had casually glanced up at her with his usual charming smile, looking completely nonchalant about the ordeal.

Marlene mused to herself that, since detention seemed to be such a regular occurrence for Sirius and James, one more was probably more of an accomplishment than anything.

She frowned as she struggled with the inner battle to confront Sirius and finally settled on the idea that things were better left alone. She was already dreading the idea of serving her first detention and the repulsive idea that she would have to admit to him that she was responsible for this made her stomach queasy.

"And then Davy told me that the stars had nothing on my eyes before he kissed me," Mary sighed again with a nauseating amount of love struck tenor. Marlene was only vaguely aware of the one sided conversation echoing down the deserted corridor but she was still so wrapped up in her own musings to pay much attention to the girl walking beside her.

"Marlene?" Mary finally said with irritation.

"Mmhmm," Marlene managed to muster in between her now current thoughts about her charms essay. She missed the scowl that Mary directed at her and it wasn't until she felt a hard nudge into her ribs that she was brought back to reality.

"Ouch! What was that for?" she said angrily as her hands dropped to massage the left side of her abdomen. Her brows furrowed with frustration as she scanned Mary's face for an acceptable apology.

Mary's lip curled slightly into an abrasive pout before she continued on with the story she had been telling. Marlene bit back an impolite retort but decided it was against her better judgment and instead struggled with the impossible task of giving Mary her full attention.

The rest of the week passed far too quickly for Marlene's liking and her Thursday detention rolled around faster than she could blink. At the conclusion of her Defence Against the Dark Arts lecture she passed on the option to join Lily and Mary in the library and instead wandered up to her Gryffindor dormitory to relax on her four poster. As she entered the dorm room she floated towards her bed and fell face forward into the scarlet sheets. Her exasperated groan was muffled by the comforter and she allowed herself a solid minute before rolling over and snuggling deeper into her pillow.

She couldn't remember quite how she ended up outside or rather how the weather had seemed to fade back into a beautiful autumn afternoon but she was drawn towards a mysterious humming noise that seemed to be travelling from somewhere near the Quidditch pitch.

Her feet seemed to know where they were leading her and her brain was too absorbed in the beautiful melody to pay them any attention. As she headed further from the castle the scenery around her seemed to glow and fade as she passed through it.

_How pretty_, she had mused to herself.

The mysterious humming grew louder as she neared the pitch and just as easily as she had been pulled toward it, her feet took a sharp left and directed her on a new path towards the Gryffindor change rooms.

She paused momentarily outside of the door and listened, hypnotized, to the lovely serenade that seemed to omit from somewhere inside before pushing forward on the oak barrier that separated her from it.

Sirius Black stood shirtless in the middle of the room; what he was doing, Marlene couldn't be quite sure and somehow seemed irrelevant.

"Hello McKinnon," he said charmingly as he flashed his signature dazzling smile. Marlene felt her knees wobble slightly and the increase in tempo of her heartbeat as he casually gazed into her eyes.

She felt compelled to kiss him and as though he had read her mind, in one swift movement he gracefully moved across the room so that he stood merely inches from her. Marlene looked up into his grey eyes and felt them pulling her deeper into a mesmerized epitome of complete elation.

"You know you want me McKinnon," he said with a whispered tease and Marlene felt her face move inwards towards him just as he pulled back a fraction of an inch. He grinned mischievously at her before she was pulled from her reverie by an extremely loud and distracting noise from somewhere in the distance. She turned around again and found that the fragments of the locker room along with Sirius seemed to be fading into blackness before the arrogant smirk was nothing but a distant memory.

"Marlene!"

Marlene's eyes snapped open and the face of Lily Evans was looking back at her. For a moment she was completely disoriented before clear embarrassment over the dream she had been having overpowered her. She bolted into an upright position in her bed, causing Lily to jump back slightly from the sudden movement.

"Slightly jumpy aren't you Marlene?" Lily said cautiously.

"Sorry," Marlene mumbled apologetically. She stifled a yawn and looked around the dark and empty dormitory. The window curtains were still pulled back and Marlene could see that the sun had long set and nightfall was prominent in the scene outside her window.

"What time is it!" she said quickly in a slight panic. She hadn't intended to fall asleep and the sudden realization that she had made her even more nervous that she had missed her detention.

"Relax," Lily said calmly, "When you didn't show up for dinner I figured you were either busy studying in the common room or had fallen asleep so I came to find you right away. It's a quarter to seven."

Marlene felt slightly less flustered but none the less in a state of panic as she leaped off the bed and past Lily towards the door leading from the dormitory.

"Thanks Lil," she said breathlessly, "See you later!"

"Have fun," Lily smiled sympathetically and Marlene laughed bitterly in reply.

She bolted from the room and made a mad rush down the spiral staircase, almost knocking two third year girls over as she pushed through them.

"Sorry," she muttered quietly but did not stay long enough to hear their response.

The common room was scarce; a clear indication that most students had not yet returned from dinner but Marlene had barely glanced around the room before making her exit out of the portrait hole. She sprinted through the castle in a desperate attempt to make the impossible journey to the dungeons in the short amount of time she had left and finally arrived outside of Professor Slughorn's office completely out of breath ten minutes after seven.

She quickly knocked on the door and was warmly invited inside from a voice on the opposite side of the door. She pushed on the handle and the door groaned slightly as it opened. She hurried inside where she was surprised to discover that Sirius had obviously been on time as he casually glanced up at her from his chair situated in front of Slughorn's desk.

"Ah Miss McKinnon," Slughorn bellowed from behind a glass of what appeared to be sherry. He was leaning back comfortably in his chair and seemed amused from whatever conversation he had been having with Sirius prior to her entrance.

"Precisely on time!"

"Erhm," she faltered slightly as she knew very well that she was late for her appointment but the wink from Sirius and the clock on the wall overhanging the magnificent desk assured her otherwise.

"Shall we begin then?" he said gleefully and Marlene had the inkling that he had consumed more than just the one glass of sherry he held firmly in his hand. He stood up, wobbled slightly and moved towards a door on the far side of his office to which an adjoining classroom, lit dimly by candlelight, awaited them.

Marlene hesitated momentarily before moving after him and Sirius stood from his chair, stretched, and followed suit. The table at the front of the room was lined with an assortment of empty jars and several cauldrons full of some form of potion that emitted the most pungent and foul odour. Sirius wrinkled his nose in disgust and Marlene couldn't help but cough profusely as the horrible aroma settled into the back of her throat.

"Professor," she gagged loudly. "What is that?"

Slughorn chuckled heartily as he made his way over to the first cauldron. Marlene shifted uncomfortably as he bent over it and inhaled a large whiff of the contents.

"Tonight you will be pickling rat brains for me," he moved towards a large crate opposite the table and opened the lid. Marlene let out a horrified groan of disgust as an equally foul smell filled the room. She craned her head upwards slightly to look at the contents of the crate and several mounds of greyish colored objects met her eyes.

She sensed Sirius's movements from beside her and she looked over at him to note that he had an amused smile playing on his lips. He moved forward until he was standing next to their professor and Marlene hesitantly joined him. They watched silently as their task was explained to them and Slughorn wasted no time in his obvious desire to return to the half empty bottle of sherry awaiting him in his office.

As he closed the door separating them, Sirius turned to Marlene and grinned amusedly as he picked up his first rat brain from the odor emitting crate.

"Could be worse I suppose," he said nonchalantly as he began scooping the potion contents from the cauldron and pouring it into an empty jar.

"How do you figure?" Marlene's face twisted into repulsion as she caught of whiff of the mixture in which Sirius was concocting. If possible, the combination of ingredients was even more nauseating than when they remained separate.

"You should see the punishments that Filch comes up with," he said indifferently but did not offer any more information on the subject.

Marlene hesitantly joined him in silence and the pair of them remained speechless for most of the duration of their punishment. The process, Marlene discovered, was very repetitious and soon she became bored with the task. Even the smell had become acquired within the dungeon's classroom and Marlene soon became oblivious to it except for the odd moment when Sirius carelessly let the ladle drop back into the cauldron causing the repugnant substance to splatter over the sides.

"How's the first detention treating you McKinnon?" he finally broke the silence.

The gesture startled Marlene and she let the jar she held in her hand drop to the floor with a vigorous shatter. There was a falter in the music that had been coming from Slughorn's office but it was miniscule and soon the definite melody of the Hobgoblins returned to a dull murmur.

"A bit jumpy aren't you McKinnon?" Marlene turned her gaze to meet the amused face of Sirius Black. She felt her face heating up as she recalled the dream she had had only a few hours previous. She let herself look at him for the first time in a very long time and was agonized by just how unfairly good looking he was. She had always thought of him as genetically favored but never before had she actually felt an attraction to him like she did in this moment; he, with an uncharacterized sense of natural charm and the way his hair fell so gracefully into his piercing grey eyes, made it impossibly difficult for her not to notice the sudden wobble in her knees.

"What do you care Black?" she found her voice and was taken aback at the venom that laced her words. She hadn't intended to snap at him as he had been a relatively good sport about the fact that she had landed him in detention.

"I don't," he shrugged, "just making conversation."

Marlene watched him drop his gaze back towards the crate of half empty rat brains and continue on with the grueling task. He did not offer any further conversation starters and Marlene felt relief that she was able to divert her focus on to non-Sirius related thoughts.

It seemed to be another hour that passed by before the music faded from Slughorn's office and the door separating the two rooms creaked open to allow the magnificent light from his office flood into the dimly lit dungeon classroom. Marlene's eyes squinted slightly, adjusting to the light, and Professor Slughorn stepped into the room wobbling slightly, clutching an empty glass in his hand.

"Are you two still here?" he exclaimed with surprise. "It's nearly eleven o'clock! McGonagall will have my head if she knew you were out of bed this late. Off you go then!"

Marlene wasted no time in her haste to leave the classroom and she could sense that Sirius was eager to do the same as he quickly followed her stride out into the dim corridor. They walked back to the Gryffindor common room together as quickly and quietly as possible in complete silence; the only sound that echoed through the corridors was the sound of their hurried footsteps.

"Bowtruckle," Sirius said lamely as the portrait of the fat lady came into view. She swung open and the two clamored into the nearly deserted common room.

"I had a lovely time this evening McKinnon," Sirius said with a casual wink before departing towards the opposite side of the room where his friends were currently waiting for him in a couple of squashy armchairs.

Marlene heard a few vague and hurried whispers from a couple of fourth year girls by the fireplace who had been watching the exchange with furiously jealous glares. The flush that Marlene felt rise to her cheeks did not do anything but cause the whispered murmurs to turn frantic as they took her reaction to be a confirmation of a story they had obviously put together. The accusatory glares deepened as Marlene walked past them and disappeared up the stairs to her dormitory.

* * *

><p>The rumors had already begun by the time Marlene had entered the great hall for breakfast the next morning. As she entered the hall with Lily and Mary she shifted uncomfortably as a half dozen eyes glanced up at her; a few so much as rose from their seats to get a better look.<p>

"What are they looking at?" Lily demanded fiercely. She shot a few furtive glares at some of the staring students who immediately revoked their gazes.

"I have a vague idea," Marlene said dryly as she frowned at the two fourth year girls she had spotted in the common room the night before.

As handsome as Sirius Black was to the entirety of the female Hogwarts population, he was not known to date very often - much to the dismay of the many girls who had fallen hard for his good looks and charm. In fact, Marlene had never known him to actually have a girlfriend; he seemed too preoccupied with his marauding duties to have time for such nonsense.

The girls settled into a few empty seats at the end of the table and began helping themselves to breakfast.

The excitement was quickly averted to a new target halfway through the day when, after Transfiguration, a notice had been posted around the school that the next Hogsmeade trip was still going ahead as planned and would take place the following weekend.

"Oh this is fantastic!" Mary exclaimed with delight as she finished reading the notice outside the Tranfiguration classroom. "Davy and I were just going to spend the day in the castle but this will be so much better."

Lily laughed slightly and Marlene couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement at the prospect of being able to finally unwind from the constant pressure she had been facing. Despite the current lack of enthusiasm that Lily was showing at going, Marlene could sense that her friend was as equally grateful for the same opportunity.

"Hey Evans," just as Marlene had been feeling uplifted at the hope of a better afternoon, James strolled up behind Lily and made the mistake of placing his hand upon her shoulder. "Want to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?"

Lily moved so quickly that it was almost impossible to see the moment that James Potter flew across the hallway and into a statue of armor. In fact, Marlene wasn't even sure that it had been Lily; she turned to her friend with a surprised look and was met with the same look of stupor on Lily's fair features.

"Evans! What was that – Oh Snivellus, it was you!" James had regained his composure and the look of complete disbelief he had dawning on his face changed quite suddenly at the sight of something over Lily's shoulder.

Marlene and about a half dozen other students within the vicinity swiveled their heads to look in the same direction of James's daggering gaze. She watched as Lily's lip curled and her brain mentally worked together a fitting scenario that was undoubtedly about to take place before her eyes.

"Leave him alone Potter!" Lily said quickly and for a moment James' look of triumph faltered.

"Oy, whose side are you on Evans?"

"Don't make me deduct points from you Potter," she dared threateningly and her grip upon her wand tightened noticeably. The crowd drew their breath; a Potter versus Evans episode hadn't graced the Hogwarts halls in at least a month.

"I don't need your help!" Severus sneered with clear dejection. His wand had been drawn for the entire duration of the episode and by the look on his face, Marlene was able to piece together the conclusion that James had been right; Lily had not been the one to hex him.

Their friendship was still on obvious rocky edges and as far as Marlene was aware, Lily had not quite forgiven him for his racist remarks at the end of their fifth year.

"Severus," she said warningly and his wand lowered slightly. It was enough of a distraction to off guard him and the next thing Marlene saw was a blur of black as the crumpled form of Severus Snape went flying into the wall.

"Potter!" Lily shrieked.

James's seemed to momentarily forget that he had been trying to woo the object of his affections; his face was contorted into a disgusting look of smug and arrogant triumph while his hand instinctively shot to his hair to ruffle it into a further mess and his eyes shot back to meet the blazing eyes of Lily Evans.

"So Evans," he said grinning, "how about that date to Hogsmeade?"

"JAMES POTTER, I WILL NEVER GO OUT WITH YOU! YOU ARE AN ARROGANT BULLYING ARSE!"

"What in Merlin's name is going on out here!" Professor McGonagall came rushing into the hallway from the empty Transfiguration classroom. The sight that met her eyes was of Snape slumped against the wall - a trickle of blood running down his forehead onto his large crooked nose, Lily hunched over him with deep concern and attempting to shake him into consciousness, and James and Sirius cackling gleefully at the sight of their fallen foe; wands outstretched.

"Miss Evans, I think you should accompany Mr. Snape to the infirmary. Miss McKinnon, please inform Professor Vector that she shall be late. Next time, please be a little more composed," she tilted her head towards a group of wide eyed first years.

"Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, a word?" she said sternly and stood aside to indicate that she expected them to re-enter the classroom. They silently complied but not before James shot Lily one last hopeful look before McGonagall shut the door firmly behind them.

"He has some nerve!" Lily fumed irrationally as she conjured Snape's unresponsive body into a magical stretcher and proceeded down the hall, muttering profound nonsense under her breath. Marlene and Mary separated and headed to their respective classrooms with a sense of urgency; watching the scene had made each of them late.

"Miss McKinnon?" Professor Vector questioned as she hurried into the room.

"Sorry Professor," she mumbled with embarrassment and quietly informed him of Lily's tardiness.

Her professor nodded and continued on with the lecture as though no interruption had taken place and Marlene instantly forced herself to concentrate on each and every word.

Lily did not return from the hospital wing for the entirety of Ancient Runes and Marlene was left to pay Professor Vector her utmost attention to remain comprehensive of the material. Her mind, surprisingly, stayed quite focused through the lecture and she was pleased to discover that the homework she accumulated was minimal.

As she exited the classroom, she had a funny feeling like she was being watched. Pulling her face from behind the book she held open in her hands, her eyes skimmed the crowded corridor but did not notice anything unusual.

Shrugging off the feeling proved to be more difficult than she imagined. As she began weaving in and out of groups of her peers – all of whom seemed overzealous with enthusiasm for the notice as it was the only thing buzzing through the halls – she couldn't shake the same tingling sensation prickling the back of her neck and slowly she craned her head over her left shoulder to glance behind her.

Her eyes caught a pair of brilliant green before a student bumped into her causing her to momentarily lose her balance. When she looked back again the eyes of Bertram Aubrey were not focused on her but instead on the group of sixth year Hufflepuff boys he was talking to.

Marlene was unsure if it had been her imagination and proceeded back down the hall in the direction she had been heading. Soon, however, she was inclined to believe that the sensation of being watched was no coincidence as it resumed the moment she turned away, following her down the hall, and only disappearing after she rounded a corner and out of his sight.


	7. Part One: Chapter Seven

Hogsmeade weekend arrived quite quickly and it seemed that the entire castle was anticipating the event. At the conclusion of Charms on Friday afternoon, Professor Flitwick was actually the first to flee from the classroom leaving a distraught Lily who had intended to debate him some rather challenging points of view she had had with him over the Charms essay that he had handed back in class.

"Ask him on Tuesday?" Mary offered with a shrug, "Enjoy the weekend, won't you?"

It seemed that Lily was determined not to enjoy her weekend, at least not in Hogsmeade. She opted to stay behind on Saturday to continue on her Ancient Runes translation that Marlene knew she had finished well over a week ago. The reason for her decision was not hard to discover but both Mary and Marlene neglected from bringing the subject up out loud to Lily; James Potter.

Despite his obvious attempts earlier in the semester to continue his constant pestering on Lily it had seemed for a short while that he had finally lost interest in the pursuit. Of course, it soon became obvious that Marlene had been mistaken when the notice for Hogsmeade had been posted and James made it his only priority to see to it that Lily accompanied him.

The constant bickering in the hallways soon subsided as Lily began taking shortcuts and dodging the halls between classes. Although she never did manage to escape him, as he always seemed to know exactly where she was.

"I don't get it," she said with annoyance the evening before their Hogsmeade trip. "I specifically went up four floors to use the girl's lavatory at the end of class so that I could avoid him afterwards and he was waiting for me outside. How in Merlin's name did he know where I was?"

Marlene listened with less interest than Mary; she had long ago stopped questioning how the Marauders did some of the things they did as her time spent with them revealed them to be much more talented than Lily would ever admit to give them credit for.

As Saturday morning rolled around Lily unveiled that she had made plans with their dorm mate Alice Prewett to go over Charms notes.

"You're welcome to stay and join us if you'd like," Lily offered hopefully.

She was busying herself behind a book on her bed; it was clear she did not intend to leave the dormitory until after the students had left for the small village as she was still in her night clothes and hadn't yet bothered to shower.

"No thanks," Marlene shook her head and Lily waved them goodbye. As the Mary and Marlene descended the staircase, Marlene was quick to notice the eager look on James' face as they came into view. His face became crestfallen the second that he realized Lily was not with them and his gaze immediately fell back to the wand he was twirling between his fingers.

Marlene realized that the boys had been waiting for Lily's arrival; or, more appropriately, the boys had been waiting for James who refused to leave until Lily's arrival. She felt a surge of pity on her classmate and signaled Mary to hold on as she wandered over towards the four Gryffindors.

"She's not coming," Marlene said simply to James and he looked up at her with a dull expression.

"What?" he tried to sound nonchalant but Marlene's raised eyebrow told him that she knew better.

"Sorry mate," Sirius shrugged before picking himself gracefully up off the couch. Remus and Peter both stood as well and James sighed with the realization that he ought to join them.

Marlene turned quickly and rejoined Mary and the two girls headed out of the portrait hole and made their way to the entrance hall. Mary began gushing instantly about the activities that she and Davy had planned together, and although she never said it, Marlene assumed that snogging in the corner at Madam Puddifoots would comprise most of the day's activities.

Davey was waiting for them at the entrance hall and greeted Mary with a stiff kiss and Marlene with a less than enthusiastic half smile. Marlene returned the gesture unwillingly; she had never liked spending time around Mary's boyfriend and it would seem that he shared a similar standpoint.

"I thought that Marlene could join us on the walk and the three of us could stop at Honeydukes before we start our date," Mary say hopefully and Marlene felt a sickening twist in her stomach as she observed the pained look that Davy was giving her; not even bothering to attempt to hide it.

"You know what," Marlene said sharply while looking disdainfully at an eye avoiding Davy, "I'd really hate to interrupt your plans. I'll catch up with you later Mary."

"Oh it's no problem Marlene," Mary said cheerfully. "We'd love for you to join us."

Apparently Mary was the only one that was oblivious to the clear tension. She forced a smile instead and brushed past the couple and out the doors.

Even though it was the beginning of December, the sun was shining brightly and warmly over the grounds and some of the snow had even started melting along the pathway. She loosened her scarf slightly halfway on her walk into the village and took her alone time to admire the beautiful scenery around her.

The walk passed by quite quickly and soon Marlene was standing in the entrance to the bustling street filled with what seemed to be the entirety of Hogwart's population. She looked around hopefully, trying to figure out where she should stop first and the sight of Remus's waving arm from the entrance to Zonko's caught her attention.

Once she realized that he was beckoning for her to join him she hurried across the street to his side.

"Hey Remus," she smiled politely and was greeted with an equally friendly gesture.

"Thought you might like some company," he said lightly, "Couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Mary." His demeanor at the mention of this changed slightly to a hint of disapproval but it was quickly masked as the various eye catching gadgets within the shop caught his attention. Soon Marlene had even managed to crack a large grin as a third year student from Slytherin was startled by a nose biting teacup – the masterful work of James and Sirius, she presumed.

Marlene spent the better part of an hour wandering the store with Remus. She had only ever visited the store once on her first visit to Hogsmeade but had quite quickly dismissed the practical souvenir boutique as childish and far from her interests.

As she admired some of the finer commodities that Remus pointed out to her – carefully avoiding the dungbombs – Marlene was ashamed to admit to herself that she had not given the store enough credit and that the gags and whimsical merchandise were in fact quite entertaining.

After purchasing a deck of self-shuffling playing cards for her parents, Marlene resisted the temptation to buy a 'grow your own warts kit' to use on Snape, the latter of which she admitted shamelessly to Remus as they exited the shop.

"James and Sirius must be rubbing off on you," he said with a twinkle in his eyes after she confessed this.

"Speaking of," she turned around in the middle of the street and began scanning the crowd for the other boys. "Where exactly are they?"

Remus smiled and shrugged but Marlene was not convinced that he was being completely honest. She did not further push the subject but instead followed Remus into a few other various shops before arriving outside the Three Broomsticks.

"I think I'm going to pass today," she hesitated momentarily on the threshold of the doorstep leading into the busy pub. She caught sight of the other boys sitting at a table through the open door that Remus held open. Although she had enjoyed her day with Remus, she did not fancy the idea of sharing the rest of her afternoon with his friends.

"See you at the castle then?" Remus waved goodbye and she exhaled deeply with a sense of accomplishment; she had managed to have a successful day of relaxation. Just as she began thinking this, her thoughts drifted to the impending Transfiguration homework that was waiting for her at the castle. Homework had finally crept back into the foremost of her mind and she was no longer able to avoid it.

The walk back to Hogwarts passed far too quickly and she immediately headed for the Gryffindor common room. Lily and Alice were nowhere to be found and Marlene concluded that they must have taken refuge in the Library. She settled herself into a chair in the deserted common room and began the tedious practice of her slightly improved vanishing spell.

"Evanesco!" she said firmly and watched pleasantly as the snail that was slowly crawling across the desk began to disappear slowly before her eyes. She had been working at it consistently for the past few weeks; squeezing random attempts at vanishing food items off of the table at dinner when nobody was watching. The problem was that she was still failing miserably most of the time with anything larger than a walnut and she was exerting all of her unused time and energy into working on this.

The rest of the hour was quite successful for Marlene; she was fully able to vanish the snail completely in one attempt. A few students began trickling in afterwards and the buzz and excitement from the students still engaged in their day's activities created a large distraction for her concentration. By the time Mary had arrived back, Marlene was quite ready to be finished with her studies as the Marauders were tagging not far behind with such loud and boisterous obscenities that she wouldn't have been able to continue on even if she had tried.

Lily was not seen until dinner time when she walked into the great hall with Alice. James had obviously said something as she passed by but Lily dutifully ignored him. Marlene was sure she had heard a loud curse from where James was sitting but when she looked towards him he had immersed his mouth with a large amount of food and was staring ruefully down at his plate; stabbing his broccoli with unnecessary force.

Lily was oblivious to this, or at least extremely good at hiding it and instead settled herself into the vacant spot next to Marlene and began reaching for the nearest item of food. Marlene was quick to express the accomplishment of her afternoon with Transfiguration and was rewarded with an acknowledging smile from Lily.

Mary was in the middle of excitedly sharing the - rather dull in Marlene`s opinion - date that she had had that day when a shadow overcast the table from behind Marlene and Mary faltered as she looked up from across the table. Her stunned look at being interrupted quickly turned into a small smile and her sentence was cut off short as she closed her mouth and refused to continue further.

Lily and Marlene, both curious, turned in their seats to see what had caused such a satisfactory distraction for their friend.

Bertram Aubrey stood smiling behind them and he was looking intensely at a slightly taken aback Marlene.

"Hey Marlene," he said politely before nodding to Lily and Mary in acknowledgement.

Marlene was unable to string her words together; a familiar feeling to the last encounter she had experienced with this particular boy. She looked deeper into his intensely green eyes and found her thoughts become lost just like the words she had been trying to speak.

He was unfairly good looking, although nothing in comparison to the gorgeousness of Sirius Black. In his own way he was justifiably handsome and Marlene was sure that he was even more so than the last time she had laid eyes on him. Of course, this could be mainly due to the fact that she was undoubtedly staring at him for longer than was politely necessary. So long, in fact, that Lily had to jab her elbow into Marlene's side, breaking the uncomfortable awkwardness lingering between them.

Marlene blushed as she realized this and mumbled an incoherent "Hello."

"I heard that you were having some difficulties with the Vanishing spell," he continued on as though he hadn't noticed anything unusual about their exchange.

Marlene knew that she must look horrified as Lily kicked her shin quite forcefully from under the table to encourage her to reposition her facial expression. Marlene shot her a furtive glare in response and looked back to Bertram.

She was horrified that news of her failure in such a transparent spell had leaked to someone that she didn't even know.

"Marlene has been improving, she was just telling us how she spent the majority of the afternoon mastering the spell," Lily wasted no time jumping in to save the conversation which was clearly sinking fast. Marlene nodded slowly, still unable to string her words together.

"Oh," he said slightly disheartened, "I was actually coming to offer my services on the subject, you know, see if I could give a few pointers and help."

"She would love that!" Lily exclaimed brightly despite the incredulous look that both Marlene and Mary were giving her.

"Great," Bertram looked amusedly from Lily back to Marlene and chuckled softly. Marlene melted inside. "How does tomorrow afternoon sound? I'll meet you in the library after lunch."

"That sounds perfect," Lily smiled and Marlene nodded automatically.

Bertram smiled and offered his goodbye before disappearing to the Hufflepuff table and joining a group of boys that he had been seen with previously. All three girls continued to follow him with their gaze until he was safely nestled at the table and engaged in a conversation before they tore their eyes away and back to each other.

"What was that?" Marlene asked skeptically at a smug looking Lily.

"I just got you a date," she said matter of fact and that was all she would offer on the subject for the rest of the evening.

* * *

><p>Bertram was already waiting for Marlene when she entered the library after lunch the next day and he seemed genuinely happy to see her when she dropped into the seat beside him. Marlene felt a soft flutter in her stomach as he smiled charmingly up at her from behind the book he was reading.<p>

"Vanishing the unvanishable?" she read from the tattered cover before he closed it and set it down on the table to give her his direct attention.

"Just thought I'd do some light reading while I waited," he said casually.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," she laughed softly, "I can barely vanish a snail, let alone far more difficult objects I'm sure they have listed in that book."

"You don't give yourself enough credit," he seemed sincere and Marlene felt the flutter in her stomach increase profusely. She smiled at him and realized that she felt surprisingly comfortable with this boy who she barely knew.

"So where should we start?" She questioned indicating towards the Transfiguration book she had brought with her.

"How about you show me what you can do," he suggested, "then we can go from there."

Marlene pulled out her wand and pointed it firmly at the text book he had previously been reading. She focused her mind on the textbook disappearing and recited the incantation she had begun tiring of hearing. When she opened her eyes the text book lay unharmed in front of her as though nothing had happened at all. Which, as it turned out, was exactly what had occurred.

Bertram looked thoughtfully at the textbook and then back to Marlene.

"You have excellent concentration," he said with surprise, "but you are definitely lacking with concise direction and you don't seem rather confident that you have the ability to do it. It's quite clear from your reaction that you expected nothing to happen. I noticed that you're wand movements are a bit off as well."

"Erhm," she said slowly. It was not new to her to hear that she lacked confidence in her abilities. On many occasions Sirius had repeatedly adjudicated to her that she was lacking in that department and more often than not she had forced herself to believe that he just didn't know how to help her. Hearing a second opinion, or third if you counted Lily's agreement with Sirius's conclusion, was comforting and also disheartening for Marlene to hear.

"Relax," he chuckled lightly, "I know exactly how to help you."

Unfortunately, the rest of the afternoon was a dud because after Marlene's fifth failed attempt at vanishing the textbook they resorted to casual conversation until Madam Pince kicked them out of the library for talking.

They continued their conversation into the hall, seeming to forget that the sole purpose of their encounter was to be studying Transfiguration – Marlene beginning to realize that it was probably just an excuse to see one another.

They strolled through the corridors talking and laughing as though they had known each other for years and before they realized where the time had gone, students were already heading down to the great hall for dinner.

"I'm sorry we sort of bypassed the Transfiguration studying," he said sheepishly as the great hall came into view. He didn't really seem all that sorry but Marlene didn't mind in the slightest. She had enjoyed her day getting to know the seventh year Hufflepuff boy whom she had discovered was a chaser on his team. Vaguely, she recalled his face to one of the players she had seen during the first match of the season and suddenly the reason for James and Sirius's apparent dislike for the boy became obvious.

"It's okay," she laughed softly, "I enjoyed today."

He paused briefly outside the entrance into the great hall as though he was about to say something and Marlene held her breath hopefully. A few seconds passed by before he shifted his gaze towards the Hufflepuff table, ran a hand casually through his hair and grinned widely as he looked back at her.

"We should hang out again," he said eagerly.

"Oh," Marlene wasn't sure if she had been able to hide the disappointment in her voice.

"Soon?" he reached across the distance between them and gave her arm a slight affectionate squeeze before he turned and headed into the hall. Marlene followed behind him and turned in the opposite direction towards her own table searching the crowd for two familiar faces.

Marlene glanced back towards Bertram's table – or Bert, as he had asked to be called – and smiled timidly as she noticed the group of boys he was sitting with were looking over at her.

She found Lily and Mary and settled into the seat across the table from them, turning her back to the boy she had just spent the afternoon with and was instantly bombarded with questions.

"We didn't really work much on Transfiguration," Marlene admitted guiltily. She was surprised when Lily's smile widened and her friend began laughing.

"Of course not," Lily said jokingly. "I never thought you would."

The common room was surprisingly crowded later that evening and it was a challenge to find an empty table. They managed to secure one further towards the back of the room which suited them just fine as Lily was still working on avoiding James.

They immersed themselves in a few games of exploding snap before Marlene tired of the game and sat back to watch the other two begin a round of wizard chess. As she sat staring at the chess board she was only vaguely aware of what was going on around her.

Her mind drifted to the warm fuzzy feeling that she had experienced when she first laid eyes on Bert in the library and how intensely it had grown when he had looked into her eyes and smiled.

She smiled outwardly at the thought.

She was more confident than earlier that Bert hadn't ever intended on helping her studying for Transfiguration after speaking with Lily. She had also taken special attention to the conversation earlier in the day where he had revealed that Transfiguration was not particularly his best subject. Although not nearly as dreadful as Marlene but definitely not the top of his class either.

It was comforting to Marlene to know that someone was actually so interested in getting to know her that they had been so forward about the whole matter. Of course, he hadn't specifically asked her out either and she was feeling slightly befuddled about the awkwardness of their goodbye.

She was so completely lost her thoughts about the nature of her blossoming relationship that she failed to notice when someone sat down next to her. It wasn't until a hand began waving in front of her eyes that she snapped from her reverie and whirled around in her seat to stare blankly at the boy beside her.

"Can I help you?"

"How's your vanishing spell coming along?" Sirius ignored her obvious rudeness and offered her what appeared to be a genuine smile.

Marlene stared at him, blinking a few times, and felt far too exhausted to exert any energy to omitting a response. Instead of speaking, she shrugged her shoulders lazily hoping that he would take the hint that she was in no mood to engage in conversation.

"Surely your lack of enthusiasm isn't a reflection of your feelings of my presence," his grin widened.

"Of course not," Marlene smiled feebly at him. She had turned her gaze back towards the chess game that was still going on between her friends and lazily stared off into the distance again.

"What's the matter with you, McKinnon?" Sirius said jokingly. Although he seemed humored by her she also sensed an underlying irritation that she wasn't giving him her full attention.

"Nothing."

"Alright well," he ran a hand through his hair carefully, mimicking the trademark gesture of his counterpart. "I just thought I'd let you know that I have a bit of free time tomorrow evening if you wanted some more help with your Transfiguration."

He removed himself from the chair beside her and headed off in the opposite direction without as much as another word. As she watched him walk away she began feeling guilty that she had acted so rude when he appeared to have good intentions.

"You are a bit spacey tonight," Mary muttered as she contemplated her next move, "you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine," Marlene sighed and craned her head over her shoulder to look back at Black and his friends. They were laughing about some undoubtedly silly thing and Marlene felt a flare of agitation that Sirius had managed to stray her thoughts back to him.

Marlene noted that she had not spoken with Sirius since the detention they had shared over a week prior and she had still neglected to apologize for her part in it. She was confused why he would be so willing to offer her help after that.

She continued looking at the group of boys and for a moment envied the careless nature they seemed to possess. Of course she knew this was untrue; if there was anything she had been able to decipher that Lily had not, it was that these boys were extremely intelligent and just acted like they weren't.

As though Sirius knew she was thinking about him – or for a more obvious reason, that he had sensed her staring at him – he looked up and locked eyes with her.

Normally Marlene would have felt embarrassment that she had been caught, blushed, and turned away. This time felt different and she continued looking at him; a slight scowl playing about her expression.

He looked at her curiously. He seemed obviously interested in knowing what it was that she was thinking about and the silent connection between their gazes only intensified as the time passed by. He eventually grinned playfully and averted his attention back to his friends with the occasional glance back to Marlene.

She wasn't quite sure why she felt compelled to continue watching the four animated boys but she managed to keep herself preoccupied with the task for longer than she would have liked to admit.

Sirius eventually stopped looking back at her and Marlene grew aware of the lateness of the evening when Mary and Lily began cleaning up around her. She had been startled at first when Lily accidently bumped her leg as she stood from the chair beside her and as though she had only realized exactly what she had been doing for the last half hour, felt embarrassed.

She did not bother to look at the Marauder's as the three of them headed towards the girl's staircase and even when James shouted out to Lily and Lily turned to give James a piece of her mind, she did not falter on her destined path upstairs; the idea of turning around to meet the piercing eyes of Sirius did not interest her anymore. Instead, she continued upwards towards the dormitory determined to sweep him from her mind as though he had never entered her thoughts at all.

* * *

><p>Marlene wouldn't have been able to avoid him for much longer even if she had tried.<p>

Although usually prompt, Marlene was the last student to arrive to class and was surprised to discover that the only vacant seat left in the room was next to Sirius. He didn't greet her as she slumped into the chair beside him and only when she accidently knocked his textbook to the ground did he acknowledge her presence.

"So let's see how much you've been practicing," Sirius leaned back lazily in his chair and folded his hands behind to support his head.

Professor McGonagall had finished her lecture and the rest of the classroom was settling down to begin practicing their spells.

Marlene looked disdainfully at Sirius. He was grinning complacently back at her with a look of expectance. He raised his eyebrows after a moment as though to indicate that he was growing impatient with her silence.

"Evanesco," she pointed her wand at the snail that Sirius had placed on the desk and it instantly disappeared.

Sirius's smug look vanished almost as quickly. His brows creased slightly and a puzzled expression took form. Marlene felt a sense of accomplishment as she examined the expression on his face; he had obviously doubted her ability to finally accomplish the spell and she was enjoying what this was doing to him.

"Surprised, Black?" she smiled arrogantly against her better judgment.

His momentary lapse in composure quickly disappeared and he looked back at her and grinned widely. He chuckled lightly and Marlene felt a flutter in the pit of her stomach.

"A little," he said honestly, "You've obviously been practicing."

He inched his chair closer to the desk and his hand brushed her arm for a moment. The electric shock that pulsed through her body at his touch shocked her and she pulled away suddenly, startling Sirius at her movement.

"Relax McKinnon," he grinned as he pulled out some more materials for her to practice on. "I don't bite."

Marlene ignored him and instead envisioned him sporting defeating disbelief as she performed spell after spell flawlessly. With each passing spell, the look of sheer disbelief intensified on Sirius's face and she couldn't help but feel the pulsating joy of accomplishment as she watched him.

By the end of the period Sirius had managed to compose his surprise and was plenty more supportive with Marlene's progression than he had shown in the previous weeks. Marlene was appreciative that she was finally making progress and the positive reinforcement gave her an additional boost of the desperately needed self-confidence.

"Good job McKinnon, I see now why you didn't accept my offer last night," Sirius said as they began packing up at the end of class. His voice held a note of sincerity that Marlene hadn't ever heard from him before and she looked at him skeptically for a moment as though waiting for a snide remark to follow.

He answered with a genuinely sincere smile before joining in the shuffle of students heading from the classroom into the bustling hallway.

"I'm impressed!" Lily approached the space that had moments ago been occupied by Sirius. "All the practicing is finally paying off Marlene!"

Marlene beamed with pride and joined her friends as they exited the room and headed in the direction of their next class.


	8. Part One: Chapter Eight

Bert hadn't made any further attempt to communicate with Marlene since the afternoon they had spent together. Marlene thought she would have been more irritated by this thought but the unbearable amount of homework and increasing pressure to complete assignments three weeks leading up to the Christmas holidays left no time for her to dwell on it.

The first time Marlene had a moment to contemplate his lack of communication was the last day of term during the evening feast as she was entering the great hall with Mary and Lily. The girls were engaged in a discussion about their upcoming holidays – relieved that they would be boarding the Hogwarts express the next day to unwind with their families for two weeks.

"Although, I'm not sure how much relaxation will happen at my house," Lily wrinkled her nose with distaste. "Petunia is bringing home her boyfriend Vernon for the first time."

It was common knowledge that Lily and her sister, Petunia, had a very strained relationship. After the first two years at Hogwarts, It was something that she no longer spoke of often. They had had a falling out when Lily had received her Hogwarts letter. Lily had presumed that Petunia had been overcome with such jealously that they're relationship had become unsalvageable. After meeting Petunia during the summer of second year, Marlene felt inclined to agree.

"All she talked about all summer was this bloke," Lily continued on with annoyance, "and apparently she even asked Mum to keep me away for the evening when he's supposed to arrive. Of course that didn't go over very well. I'd almost rather I didn't have to endure it."

"Hey Marlene!" a voice echoed across the noisy chatter that filled the hall and Marlene lifted her head to search for the source. She spotted Bert waving at her from a distance of about ten feet away but he made no movement to approach her.

She smiled feebly and waved back before returning her attention to her friends. They continued walking towards the Gryffindor table and slowly her smile turned into a frown as she allowed herself to finally ask herself why she had not heard from Bert sooner.

She recalled that afternoon they had spent three weeks earlier and how lovely the day had seemed. The realization that their goodbye had been anything less than awkward left her questioning whether or not he had been genuine that he had wanted to see her again. Even more so now that she finally had time to process the fact that it had actually been three weeks ago, did she realize that maybe the awkwardness was because he hadn't enjoyed his afternoon with her as much as she had with him.

Marlene felt a wave of sickening realization. She hadn't had any time to think about the possibility and now that she was faced with two weeks of free time she was horrified at the thought of having nothing to distract her from the thought.

"He keeps looking over here at you," Mary said, snapping Marlene out of her reverie.

Marlene had sat with her back to the Hufflepuff table purposefully and therefore could not easily see if Mary was accurate in her statement. She didn't feel the desire to turn around and make an obvious gesture that she was aware of his presence, so she settled with a casual shrug as a response.

"I thought you liked him?" Mary replied with confusion.

"I barely know him," Marlene said truthfully but she refused to admit to the butterflies she felt in her stomach when she looked at him.

Lily gave her a knowing look and Marlene could feel her face flush a brilliant shade of crimson. She grabbed another scone and stuffed it in her mouth quickly in the hope that the conversation would go away.

The girls made their way to the Gryffindor common room quickly after dinner without a word to one another until the portrait of the fat lady demanded the password.

"Kerfuffle," Lily said dully.

"I should think so!" The fat lady straightened her shoulders and raised her chin up as she slid forward to allow them access. The common room was still deserted as they had managed to be the first to leave dinner. This was short lived as the portrait swung open almost immediately after they had entered and more students began to fill the room.

The girls settled into the couches surrounding the open fire and slowly the silence between them evaporated as Mary began to dwell on how she was planning to spend her Christmas holidays.

The atmosphere became much lighter as a group of fourth years broke out into Christmas carols and were soon joined by numerous other students. The entire common room soon became a joyous celebration and it was hard not to think of anything except the excitement of the holidays. Even Lily managed to crack a smile when James and Sirius stood up on one of the tables and performed their wizard rendition of the muggle classic 'jingle bells.' Although, her smiled flickered slightly when they started doing imitations of Snape and she disappeared up the staircase to the girls dormitory the second she heard James mention the word mistletoe.

"Where'd Evans go?" James wandered over shortly after he and Sirius had climbed down from the table and Marlene managed to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be enchanted mistletoe sticking out from between his fingers. James caught sight of where her eyes were focused and he shifted his weight, throwing his hand into his pocket.

"Don't go getting any thoughts in your head, McKinnon; I only have eyes for Evans." He gave a lopsided grin – quickly masking his disappointment, ruffled his hair and moved over to the group of girls that had initiated the caroling.

They began giggling almost instantly and Marlene doubted that he even had had time to open his mouth to produce some witty comment worthy of their madness.

"Jealous?" Marlene couldn't help the shiver that ran up her spine as Sirius whispered what seemed to be mere inches from her ear. When she turned around to face him, however, he was a safe distance away and she scolded herself mentally for becoming so flustered.

"What would I have to be jealous about?" she replied casually, trying to conceal her awkwardness.

"James is a pretty decent looking bloke," he shrugged thoughtlessly while he watched his friend flirt adamantly with the group of girls. Marlene looked back over at him and felt nauseated as she watched how a tall, slender brunette flung her arms around him flirtatiously. James did not readily pull away but he somehow didn't seem completely into it either and eventually the brunette seemed to take the hint that he wasn't interested.

"James is not my type," Marlene said quickly. In truth, she didn't really know what her type was as she had never had a boyfriend. She did, however, know that James could not be her type when her best friend was Lily Evans.

Sirius raised an eyebrow curiously but did not say any further. He quickly became engaged in a conversation by the brunette that had given up with winning James' attention; she had wandered over almost immediately after she had realized James was not responding to her flirtatious gestures and decided to try her luck with Sirius. Marlene did not allow herself any time to watch the pair and instead ducked away from the crowd of overly enthusiastic students.

She had thought Mary had been standing beside her the entire time and felt foolish as she discovered that she hadn't even noticed when her friend had left her side. She figured that she had taken the opportunity to say goodbye to Davey – whom she had been fighting with more frequently – as they would be on opposite sides of the country over the holidays.

"Hey Remus!" she spotted the familiar face sitting by the fire place sipping what appeared to be a mug of butterbeer. She looked inquisitively at him, indicating the glass, to which he smiled.

"Hey Marlene," he replied back lightly. He looked extremely tired, as he usually did, but somehow the bags under his eyes looked heavier as though he hadn't slept in days.

"Stress of exams getting to you too?" she asked casually.

"What?" he looked confused for a moment but seemed to quickly understand.

"Oh, stress, yes very much so. I haven't been sleeping very well." He pointed to a stack of books that sat beside him; completely unopened. Marlene got a strange feeling that he was lying to her but quickly brushed it off as paranoia resulting from too many hours locked up in the library.

As the pair continued light chatter, Marlene was vaguely aware that the population in the common room was slowly beginning to dwindle until there were only about a dozen people left.

"Oh," she had finally allowed herself to look around the room. Her gaze travelled to the window on her right and noticed that the sun had set long ago and the moon was prominently illuminating the grounds.

She had been so absorbed with her conversation with Remus that she hadn't realized how late it had become.

"Almost a full moon," she said absentmindedly as she admired the magnificent sight that was on display outside the window. Remus choked slightly; the spluttering noise startled Marlene from her reverie and she snapped her gaze back to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked uneasily.

"I'm fine," he said quickly, trying to regain his composure. He pointed to his empty mug, "Butterbeer went down the wrong way."

After Remus assured her he was okay he excused himself rather quickly.

"Sorry Marlene, I didn't realize how late it was and tomorrow is a going to be a long day," he waved goodnight and hurried up the stairs to his dormitory.

Marlene decided to concede defeat and give into sleep. As she entered her dormitory she was surprised to find that both Lily and Mary were already fast asleep; their bags for the holidays packed neatly and resting at the foot of their beds. Marlene quietly threw some clothes and other essentials into her trunk before climbing into her own four poster bed and drawing the curtains closed behind her.

Sleep did not come as easily for Marlene as she had hoped; she couldn't help but feel the anxious wave wash over her as she let her mind drift off into thoughts of going home and seeing her family for the first time in four months. As she laid on her back staring up at the upper canopy of her bed, she began imagining a room full of twinkling stars plastered to the ceiling to help ease her wandering mind. As waves of sleep finally began to sweep over her body, one particular constellation shone more brightly in her imagination as she drifted off into sleep.

* * *

><p>Morning came quickly enough and the girls dormitory was a mass of chaos as all of the girls struggled to move comfortably around one another in their attempt to pack any last minute essentials for the trip home.<p>

Lily sat comfortably on her bed with her nose in a large textbook – for once it seemed that she was enjoying some fictional reading as opposed to the usual study material. She had woken up much earlier than the rest of the girls and therefore was able to avoid the madness of the dormitory.

"Have you seen my hairbrush?" Alice Prewitt came rushing out of the bathroom in a frantic state; she was clad in a towel, her medium length brown hair dripping wet and sticking to her face and neck.

"I left it on the counter," Mary said almost incoherently as she forcefully brushed her teeth while balancing on one leg in her attempt to pull her jeans on.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, all the girls began descending from the dormitory – trunks in tow – ready to head to the front entrance where the horseless carriages awaited them.

"We missed breakfast!" Mary sighed sadly as they made their way to the last step and into the common room.

The Marauders were sitting casually around the fireplace playing an enticing game of exploding snap. James looked up from the game the second Mary's voice floated to his ears – wherever Mary was, Lily was sure to be nearby.

"Good morning Evans!" he said cheerfully. Lily smiled feebly at him but continued walking towards the portrait hole with no apparent desire to converse with him.

"Aren't you boys coming?" Mary asked curiously, "You're going to be late for the train!"

"Nope," James said pointedly. Marlene suddenly realized that they were one Marauder short.

"Where's Remus?" she asked – cutting off the sentence that Mary had been about to ask. Marlene did not miss the glances that passed between the three boys and wondered curiously what it had meant.

"Wasn't feeling well," Sirius shrugged casually. He continued playing the game, much to Marlene's annoyance, and refused to say anything further.

"Need I remind you," Lily said with impatience from the doorway, "we are going to be late."

"Is he in the infirmary?" Marlene pushed further, ignoring Lily.

"No," Peter squeaked and Marlene knew instantly that they were hiding something.

"Is he upstairs?" Marlene felt her temper rising at the vagueness of their answers. James looked up at her with a blank stare and Sirius sighed heavily, clearly with annoyance.

"Marlene," Lily said with even more impatience. She spoke a little louder than she normally would have but it had the desired affect; Marlene snapped out of her staring contest with James and whipped her head around to face Lily.

"What?"

"The train!" was all Lily needed to say and Marlene had the sudden realization at how late they actually were.

She shot one last furtive look at the boys; James smiled dolefully at Lily's departure, Peter was looking downwards at his feet, trying to avoid eye contact, and Sirius flashed her a dazzling smile.

"Happy holiday's ladies," he shouted to them.

"See you soon Evans," was the last thing they heard before the portrait hole closed the space between them.

"What got into you?" Mary asked curiously as they practically ran the duration of the trip towards the great hall.

"Honestly Marlene," Lily huffed petulantly – Lily hated being late, "what difference does it make where Remus is?"

"I don't know," Marlene lied bluntly. She held back the urge to confess her suspicions to her friends; it was becoming far more apparent to her that the boys were covering something up. Although she figured that Mary might be a little more receptive to the discussion, she did not feel the need to listen to Lily scold her for sticking her nose in business that was not her own.


	9. Part One: Chapter Nine

The sight of her parents waiting at the edge of Kings Cross station brought a new sense of excitement for Marlene. They were safe, happy and oblivious to the teenage drama that had been occupying their daughters mind over the last four months. They were a welcome distraction for Marlene.

"Goodbye Lily, Mary!" Marlene called over to her friends, waving casually as she departed from the group and into the warm embrace of her mother's hug.

"How was your train ride home?" Molly asked curiously as they parted and Marlene offered her father an equally amorous hug.

"It was good," Marlene said simply, "It was completely uneventful."

After they had walked a fair distance to the familiar brown station wagon, her father lifted her trunk into the back of their vehicle and Marlene crawled into the back seat where she became bombarded with questions pertaining to the school year thus far. Her mother, thankfully, had reconciled the fact that Marlene was now a teenage girl and opted from asking Marlene any embarrassing boy related questions – these she saved for after dinner as they were washing the dishes.

"So," she had started out casually enough but the tone in her voice made Marlene's stomach drop slightly. Marlene grabbed another dish from the kitchen counter and dumped it into the sink with a little more force than she had intended causing the water to splash upwards and douse the front of her mother's blouse.

"Why do I have the feeling that I know where this conversation is headed?" Marlene groaned slightly under her breath but loud enough for Molly to hear. Her mother frowned slightly with discouragement but none the less continued on with the conversation as though nothing had been said.

"I'm just merely curious whether or not you had met any boys yet this year?"

The question was innocent enough but Marlene blushed furiously with embarrassment. It seemed like Molly was more determined than she was for her to have a boyfriend.

"No," she lied curtly.

Surprisingly enough, Molly dropped the subject and instead began listing off the remaining tasks around the house that needed to be done before the rest of the family would arrive for the holidays. Molly's sister, and Marlene's Aunt Charis and her husband Uncle Bernie were arriving with their daughter Marjorie the following morning and Marlene's grandparents would be arriving the day after. Uncle Ned, who wasn't really her uncle, was her dad's best friend from college who had no family of his own, and the remaining relatives from her dad's side of the family all lived within the vicinity of the McKinnon's and therefore would be joining the family for Christmas supper.

Marjorie was one year older than Marlene and constantly competitive in comparison. Marlene did not dislike her cousin; merely, disliked spending time around her. She was constantly trying to one up everything Marlene accomplished and was fuelled by her parent's constant encouragement. The McKinnon's were very modest individuals; they never encouraged bragging or rubbing success in another's face and therefore only proclaimed the necessary praise for their only daughter's accomplishments. Molly's sister and her family, on the other hand, primarily focused on making it known how extraordinarily talented their children were.

They did not know that Marlene had a special gift. Molly had been born into a muggle family, making her the only witch. When Aunt Charis was married it was agreed upon that her muggle husband, Bernie, would never know of his sister-in-laws aforementioned talents. Although Marlene had never spoken to her aunt about her magical abilities, her mother had insisted heavily that it was never to be spoken about.

Her cousin Marjorie had been accepted into a prestigious all girls academy in France – the constant conversation topic with her parents. Marlene groaned heavily at the thought of having to endure more of pretending that she was attending a regular boarding school and enduring the constant bragging that Marjorie was not.

"Why can't we just tell them?" she asked quite suddenly while she finished scrubbing the final pan that had been soaking in the sink. "I mean, they are family after all. Would it be so bad to just tell them the truth?"

Molly looked skeptically at Marlene and continued drying the dinner plate she held in her hand. She was quiet for a moment before she opened her mouth as if to say something. She closed her lips almost immediately and shook her head firmly.

Marlene took that as a sign that her mother was finished with the conversation. She sighed with defeat and did not continue pressing the subject. She had assumed most of her life that the situation mirrored that of Lily Evans.

The remainder of the evening seemed to drag by slowly. Both of her parents busied themselves with various tasks around the house while Marlene was left cleaning up her bedroom – something she had neglected to do before she had left for school in September. Marjorie would be sharing her bedroom and in its current state, one could barely tell that a floor even existed in the room.

Marlene didn't mind. Cleaning gave her some alone time that she found scarce in the halls of Hogwarts. She allowed herself to drown out the sound of the vacuum drifting up from the foyer below and began sifting through a pile of old magazines and textbooks resting on the top of her dresser.

She flipped through some of the magazines before deeming them outdated and tossed them into the trash pile. There were a pile of old photographs and letters from her friends from over the summer and she grabbed a stack of them to read over. She sat down on her bed and began reliving the day that Lily had informed her that she had been named one of the Gryffindor prefects.

_You know, Marlene, I really didn't think this was going to happen. After that incident last year in Professor McGonagall's class when I accidently transfigured my teacup into a tumbler instead of a beaker like she had asked, I was positive that I was out of the running for prefect. I suppose she must have a sense of humor after all._

Marlene snorted slightly to contain herself from laughing too loudly. Lily had panicked over that class for at least two weeks. As far as she had remembered, Professor McGonagall had been impressed that Lily had succeeded in transfiguring something even more difficult than the aforementioned task. Then again, Lily was always worrying over the little things.

She tossed the letter aside and moved on to the next one.

_Oh my goodness! You will never guess who just owled me – AGAIN!_

Marlene rolled her eyes. She hadn't needed to continue reading the first time and the second time was even more apparent than the first. Of course it had been Potter – he had written to her more times than could be considered healthy. Marlene continued reading the letter in which Lily profusely described the nature of his letter with so many profound exclamations she wondered how James had managed to survive long enough to send her another. And then another.

After she had finished sorting through the stack of letters she came across a few school memorabilia that had been tossed aside.

"Standard Book of Spells," she read off the title of a textbook that had lain forgotten from years prior. She laughed slightly at the thought of Marjorie walking into her bedroom and catching a glimpse of the book. "Guess I'll have to find another place for you."

Marlene continued to sort through the various items in her bedroom, mentally taking note of what might seem unordinary to a muggle. Anything that was magic related was tossed into a pile on her bed to be dealt with later.

Within a couple of hours she was surprised to discover the sun had long ago set and the stars were prominently twinkling in the night sky. The clock on her wall displayed a shocking time of eleven o'clock and she wondered briefly how she had managed to miss the fact that her parents had already gone to bed.

She stifled a yawn and admired the handiwork of her evening. The bedroom was neat, organized and completely muggle-proof. She pulled out her pajamas – even her school trunk had been hidden away and clothes moved into their appropriate drawers – and slipped into her warm and welcoming bed. She settled on her back, enjoying the silence that swept through the house and stared up at the constellations plastered to her ceiling.

She had missed the comfort of her bedroom over the last four months and felt the familiarity of her home begin to settle in once more. Since privacy was hard to come by at school she always enjoyed coming home for the holidays to enjoy two weeks of being with her family and disassociating herself from all the excitement of Hogwarts.

Not that she didn't miss her friends. She would barely have any contact with either girl over the duration of the break and she felt a tug of unhappiness at the thought. There was an upside however; the separation also meant that she was hundreds of miles from any form of school work.

Marlene felt herself lose focus on her current thoughts as sleep began taking over her body. She imagined how glorious being alone, even for just the one night, felt before no further thoughts entered her mind at all.

The smell of sizzling bacon wafted into Marlene's bedroom the next morning and caused her to stir. She became fully awake when the sound of the front door opening and closing loudly and what sounded like a heard of thundering elephants came echoing up the stairs and into her bedroom.

Unless she had been knocked unconscious, she probably wouldn't have been able to stay sleeping even if she tried and even then it was debatable.

Marlene glanced up at the clock and noted that it was eight o'clock. Her family was always promptly earlier than they were scheduled to be, which in normal situations wouldn't be a problem – except for when Marlene wanted to continue to sleep.

She gave up on the idea as soon as her bedroom door flung open and her eyes adjusted to take in the light from the hallway. A tall and thickset girl with auburn brown locks and a menacing scowl on her face looked disapprovingly at her from the doorway; her nostrils flared unwillingly and her face contorted slightly into something unattractive.

"You're still sleeping?" she said snobbishly and Marlene had to control the urge to hurl the pillow from underneath her.

"Clearly not anymore," Marlene said grumpily. She felt her annoyance escalate slightly and began hoping that she wouldn't have to start her day off in a foul mood. Luckily for her, Marjorie walked across the room to the end of the bed and flopped down on her back across Marlene's feet.

"I'm so exhausted," she whined annoyingly and Marlene waited to hear the glorified excuse to her cousin's exhaustion. When she did not continue, Marlene raised her head slightly to look at the girl that was lying across her bed and was surprised to discover that she was already fast asleep.

"Great," Marlene muttered to herself as she realized that she lacked the inability to fall back to sleep. She watched in jealously as Marjorie's chest raised and lowered slowly with each deep breath before finally coming to the realization that her time was better spent exploring the option of breakfast instead.

"Good morning!" Aunt Charis seemed to be in a chipper mood and came to hug Marlene warmly as she walked into the kitchen. Her aunt and uncle both looked tanned and at ease and she quickly discovered that the reason for this was that they had spent a few weeks in Florence.

Breakfast was unusually comfortable and Marlene almost forgot how little she managed to tolerate her mother's sister as she complimented her warmly on how grown up she was starting to become. It was almost towards the end of breakfast before the subject even turned to their precious Marjorie – Molly had suddenly realized they were a place setting short and looked around with confusion.

"Where's Marjorie?" she asked, interrupting her husband's in depth account of his most recent golf game disaster.

"Upstairs sleeping on my bed," Marlene muttered in between the mouthful of scrambled eggs she was trying to consume. She looked apprehensively from her mother to her aunt and uncle and wondered just how quickly they could turn the conversation into a way to brag about their daughter but she was almost disappointed when Bernie squeezed his mug of coffee extra hard and looked angrily out the window while Charis continued to stare downwards at her plate.

Dave continued his golf story and Bernie relaxed slightly and became engaged once again in the conversation.

Marlene did not miss the glance that passed between her mother and aunt.

"That son of mine," Bernie chuckled joyfully, his large belly rumbled slightly and he spilt a little bit of coffee on his shirt in the process. "Now he can play a good game of golf, wait until next summer, and then we'll see who has the last laugh!"

"Where is he anyways?" Marlene asked sharply. This was the first time that Marjorie's brother had failed to come in tow with his family – he was a bit older though, nearly four years her senior and she expected that since he had finished school he was out in the work force or off to college.

"My boy is working hard this holiday season," Bernie said smugly. It seemed that recent lack of pride towards his daughter was only a mere hiccup in his usual demeanor towards his children. Marlene had opened up a can of worms as Bernie began boasting readily about how proud of his son he was.

"He'll be up for a promotion in no time!" he continued on loudly but Marlene was only half listening. Her parents were nodding at various intervals politely but she was sure they had stopped listening also.

It was rounding on lunch time by the time Marjorie appeared from upstairs. Her hair was disarray and her makeup smudged as though she had just woken up moments earlier – which, in hindsight, was probably the case.

"I'm hungry," she announced rudely to the living room and looked expectantly at her mother. Aunt Charis got up almost immediately from her spot on the sofa and went to start preparing lunch and was followed shortly by Molly.

"You're bed is extremely uncomfortable," Marjorie turned to Marlene and looked expectant to which Marlene tried desperately to continue focusing on the novel she held in her hands. It had been a gift from Lily the previous Christmas that had been stored and forgotten on the living room bookshelf.

Marjorie did not pursue conversation and instead settled into the couch beside her father who was absorbed in the television.

"Sports?" she whined. Bernie flinched almost unnoticeably but Marlene noticed it from the corner of her eye.

"What would you like to watch darling?" he said stiffly, passing the remote over to his daughter.

Her family hadn't even been in her house for more than a couple of hours and she was already desperate to escape them. She folded the top corner of the page she had been reading to indicate where she had left off, closed her book and dashed out of the living room as quickly as her legs would take her. She wandered upstairs to her bedroom where she was disgusted to find her bed completely smudged in Marjorie's makeup and bed sheets tangled beyond belief.

Not wanting to be caught in the most obvious place should her cousin come looking for her; Marlene crept quietly to the basement bathroom and settled into the bath tub, drawing the shower curtain around her to remain hidden from view. She pulled open her novel and rediscovered the page that she had previously been reading and continued on.

It was a nice change, for once, to be absorbing fictional material and not studying school matter; spells, potion ingredients, and worst of all historical events. Although, Marlene did feel a little saddened that, had she actually wanted to study, her books were hidden away upstairs while she pretended not to be a witch for half the holidays.

The book she was reading was immaculately distracting and she became lost in a fictional escapade for the majority of her afternoon. Lily had picked a good book: Gone with the Wind. It was definitely a muggle read and an ultimate classic which was probably why Lily had chosen it.

It was nearing dinner time; Marlene could smell the aroma of pot roast creeping through the ventilation system and the shuffling of footsteps began echoing from the kitchen directly above her. She was able to ignore the banging of cupboard drawers, clanging of pots and even the loud obnoxious whine of her cousins hunger, but the moment her stomach starting rumbling loudly - and quite painfully for that matter, she knew she was unable to focus any further on her book and headed upstairs to the kitchen.

Her mother was beginning to set the table in the dining room when she wandered up the basement stairs.

"Oh there you are!" she said almost with annoyance. Her scowl relaxed almost immediately as she pushed the pile of dinner plates into Marlene's arms. "Could you please finish setting the table? I need to make sure the potatoes don't boil over."

Without waiting for a reply, she disappeared into the kitchen where more noises of clanging pots and pans could be heard. Marlene began carelessly setting plates onto the table, not bothering to make sure they were set neatly to her mother's expectations.

Marjorie shuffled in to the room with a handful of forks and knives but instead of placing them down at their respective places, she dropped the pile at the end of the table and sunk dramatically into one of the chairs. Marlene wrinkled her nose when Marjorie wasn't looking but grabbed the stack of cutlery nonetheless and continued to disperse them beside the plates.

"Where have you been all day?" Marjorie asked rudely. "I have been so extremely bored; there is nothing worthwhile to do in this house."

Marlene gave her a scathing look before replying.

"I've been busy reading, perhaps you should try it."

"Marlene!" Molly had wandered into the dining room with a steaming bowl of pot roast. She did not look impressed with her daughter's snide remark and gave her a scolding look to display her disapproval. Aunt Charis followed in almost immediately behind with the remaining dishes and the boys were quickly called to join them for dinner.

Dinner was uneventful. It seemed that whatever annoyance Aunt Charis and Uncle Bernie had had with their daughter in the morning had disappeared and they were openly boasting about her most recent accomplishments.

"No, mom," Marjorie interrupted with a mouth full of potatoes. "It was three awards, not two."

She rolled her eyes to Marlene as though she felt Marlene should share the same annoyance at her mother's mistake, but Marlene fruitfully ignored the gesture and began stabbing her fork into a large chunk of meat on her plate instead.

"And how is school going for you this year?" Uncle Bernie's question was directed at Marlene and it took her a moment to fully realize that the table was looking at her expectantly.

"Oh you know," Marlene's gaze moved between her parents; her mother issuing her a look of warning. "Normal as ever."

"Well that's boring, now isn't it" Marjorie drawled effortlessly. She switched the subject back to herself and Marlene was once again forced to listen to how successful and talented her adoring cousin was.

Dessert passed by without any further attempts at engaging Marlene in conversation and she was perfectly content with that. She helped her mother clean up the dishes afterwards and reluctantly – after much persistence from her mother – joined her family in the living room for the evening.

By the time it was time to retire to bed for the evening, Marlene had had such a long and painful day that she didn't even care when Marjorie took over the bed, forcing her to sleep on the made up bed on the floor. She settled into the blankets, shifted the pillow slightly to drown out the snores of her cousin and fell into immediate slumber.

* * *

><p>Christmas morning couldn't have come soon enough for Marlene. She was joined soon enough by the rest of the family.<p>

Uncle Ned had never married and liked to surprise the kids with elaborate gifts from all his travels. He was a funny man, much unlike his best friend, Dave, and was constantly cracking jokes and performing cheesy muggle magic tricks. Afterall, when there were muggles around, there was most certainly no real magic allowed in the McKinnon household.

Then there was her dad's side of the family: Aunt Betty and Uncle Tom along with their four children Stephen, Darlene, Deborah and Robert all of which were under the age of ten. Uncle Tom was also a wizard but had married a muggle. It was unknown yet whether or not their children possessed any magical abilities but it was often hard to hide their promising signs from the unknowing Uncle Bernie and his children.

Grandma Elsie and Grandpa Andrew McKinnon, Dave's parents, were kind and loving grandparents and considering that Marlene had never known her mother's parents, they were everything Marlene could ask a grandparent to be.

The McKinnon household was crowded, to say the least. There were kids running around, Uncle Ned attempting to pull quarters from behind the ear every time someone turned a corner, Marjorie complaining loudly every chance she had about how crowded and noisy the house was, Uncle Bernie boasting proudly and trying to upstage everyone else's children, her mom – trying desperately to keep the house neat and organized amidst the chaos, and the two bathrooms were just not enough to keep the population satisfied.

Marlene lost the sanctuary of the downstairs bathroom; her hiding place had become a high traffic route for those family members that found the upstairs toilet occupied. She instead had to resort to spending her day in the company of Marjorie, who had deemed it necessary to avoid the younger children.

"Monsters," she had scoffed loudly enough for many of the adults in the room to hear. Marlene hung her head down shamefully as though trying to appear like she didn't know the girl sitting beside her. "I am so glad that I will never have children."

The two girls headed upstairs at the insistence of Molly after Marjorie had rudely tried to trip four year old Stephen into landing in the punch bowl. Luckily he had swerved just in the nick of time and went running into Uncle Ned's arms on the opposite side of the room to more closely examine the large unyielding array of ribbon he had begun pulling from his sleeve. Molly hadn't missed the gesture and quickly suggested that the girls might find some activity of more interest to them up in Marlene's bedroom.

Marlene had given her mother a dirty glance as she knew very well how little Marlene wanted to spend her day hanging around Marjorie but Molly had busied herself once more with trimming the final decorations on the large pine tree that had been brought in the evening prior.

"I can't wait until next year," Marjorie said dully after she had entered the room and thrown herself onto the bed. "Lucky that I will be finishing a year early. I am moving out after school and then I won't have to come on these silly family excursions any longer. It's a shame that you still have a few years left to go."

She didn't look pitiful to this fact at all and in fact Marlene rather enjoyed spending her holidays surrounded by family – most of them anyways.

"I don't mind," Marlene made the mistake of opening her mouth. Marjorie raised one thick eyebrow in skepticism before laughing boisterously and throwing her head back so that her thick neck jiggled slightly from the movement.

"Oh come now," she managed to choke out, ignoring the daunting expression that Marlene was issuing. "You can't be serious?"

"Why is that so funny?" Marlene had never spoken out to her older cousin before but she felt her patience growing thin. Her breathing became a little deeper and more uneven than it had been when she was down stairs and surrounded by the numerous other family members that did not seek to agitate her.

"I suppose you wouldn't have bigger and better things to do with your life," Marjorie laughed rudely. She seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself, completely oblivious to the fact that Marlene was reaching for something that she had shoved underneath the top corner of the bed mattress.

THUD

Marlene's fingers grazed something hard and wooden before the noise startled her and she yanked her hand from the mattress, grasping her wand instinctively. Thankfully Marjorie did not notice the stick that Marlene held firmly in her hand as her gaze was focused on the window from where the loud noise had been issued.

"What was that?" she said with a soft squeak in her voice. Marlene couldn't help but feel pleasure seeing her cousin squirm before she realized what she was holding in her hand. She dropped her hand immediately and quickly shoved her wand back underneath the mattress before Marjorie had a chance to look away from the window.

"I don't know," Marlene said incredulously. Marjorie finally turned her gaze back towards her cousin.

"Well don't just sit there," she snapped, "go check it out!"

THUD

The noise was louder this time and Marlene hesitated slightly before moving across the room to open the latch on the window. She took a deep breath and pushed on the frame, allowing it to swing outwards.

The first thing she noticed was the gust of cold air that forced its way inwards, bringing an abundance of soft and frosty snowflakes in to dance across her extended arm. She had barely time to register what had been making the noise before a large brown barn owl soared into the bedroom clutching a large manila envelope in its talons.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Marjorie screamed so shrilly that the owl became immediately panicked and began swooping around the room in a daze. Marjorie began swinging her arms around her head as though she thought swatting at the creature would solve the problem. Unfortunately for her, she only managed to agitate the owl more.

"GET IT OUT OF HERE!"

Marlene finally found her sense of humor for the first time since her cousin's arrival and stifled a giggle as she watched the owl bounce off the walls trying to avoid the frantic flailing of Marjorie. Marjorie finally managed to gain her composure and bolted straight for the open door. She tripped on a few shirts that had been tossed carelessly on the floor and slid the last few steps out into the hallway where she proceeded to continue screaming; her shrill voice could be heard as she scurried loudly down the flight of stairs and into the crowded living room.

"It's okay," Marlene offered gently to the owl as she rushed towards the door to close it. The door clicked shut and the noises from downstairs were immediately drowned out.

The owl calmed down a little and dropped the manila envelope on the bed before landing on the window ledge. It hooted angrily and Marlene rushed over to her sock drawer to pull out a bag of treats that she had stored away for just such occasion.

"Sorry about her," she said kindly as she offered a few pellets to the owl. He did not seem very accepting of her apology and instead took flight through the open window almost immediately after he had taken the treat.

There was a loud thudding noise coming from the stair case and Marlene hastily closed the window and dashed over to her bed where the large envelope lay resting. She quickly shoved it under her bed just as the door swung open and Bernie came running in, Marjorie right behind him, and half of the family in tow.

"Where is it?" he demanded. Marlene noticed that he held a fire poker firmly in his right hand. He swung it forwards as though ready to bat as his beady eyes scanned the room.

"What are you talking about?" Marlene asked innocently. She had sat casually on her bed, trying desperately to remain incredulous at the hilarious situation before her.

"What do you mean?" Marjorie pushed past her father with such force that the large man stumbled slightly in his place. "There was a massive owl flying around the room only minutes ago!"

"Oh that," she said thoughtfully. She caught sight of her mother's horrified face from the doorway and knew that she had better gloss the situation over quickly before they started asking more questions. "You mean the large bird that got in through the window? That was most definitely not an owl, it flew right back out and I closed it off, see?" she pointed her finger towards the closed window to indicate that that's what had happened.

"IT WAS AN OWL!" Marjorie screamed loudly and ran forwards towards the pane of glass. She flung open the window once more and a gust of cold air blew in and forced her hair to blow backwards almost menacingly. She poked her head out and started scanning around desperately in search of the creature.

"Sweetie, you'll catch a cold!" Aunt Charis cried and proceeded forward to try yanking her daughter back inside. She looked tense, undoubtedly knowing full well what an owl would have been doing in Marlene's bedroom.

"You must be seeing things," Marlene said calmly, "that was definitely not an owl."

"IT WAS CARRYING AN ENVELOPE!"

Marlene's stomach dropped. She had been so caught up in the amusement of the situation that she had neglected to realize the obvious abnormity of the situation.

The rest of the faces in the room were looking towards her curiously, waiting for her to confirm that this had, in fact, happened.

"You must have had too much eggnog," Marlene began laughing good naturedly. The few identical crooked smiles from Uncle Ned and her father, joined with the snickering laughter from the younger kids, was all too much for Marjorie. She huffed loudly and stormed out of the room, followed quickly by Aunt Charis.

Her mother flashed a warning look before ushering the bystanders from the room and back downstairs to continue roasting marshmallows and sipping apple cider.

As soon as the last person had exited the room, Marlene ran over and closed the door quietly offering the excuse to the curious and questioning look of Uncle Ned that she was tired and planned on taking a nap before dinner.

She dashed back to her bed and shoved her hand under the mattress to retrieve the envelope. Her hands grazed the thick parchment and she quickly pulled it from its hiding place. Lily's elegant scroll was easily recognizable and she hastily ripped open the thick package to pull out the contents within.

_Happy Christmas, Marlene!_

_Tunia is engaged to that Vernon bloke. She just announced it this morning. Since she finished school earlier this year she's been acting like a completely different person – if that's even possible for her! She's moved out of the house and in with her new 'fiance.' They're planning to travel Europe all of next summer before the wedding and part of me believes it's because she just can't stand the thought of being around me and my 'strangeness' for even one summer longer. It definitely put a damper on the mood around here though, I know my parents are trying to be enthusiastic about the whole ordeal but I can tell that they're not very happy about it. I can see it in their eyes. They apparently haven't told his parents yet but from the conversations I've overheard between Tunia and mum, they're absolutely in love with her. Apparently they planning to announce it to his family tonight so we've been forced to make dinner early. _

_On the bright side, Mom is letting me help her cook supper tonight and my grandparents are finally going to make it this year – I haven't seen them in at least three years! _

_I hope that your holidays have been going well; it must feel nice to get to spend some quality time with all of your family! (Yes, even your cousin – don't roll your eyes, Marlene, I know you too well). If there is anything that I've learned about spending time with family that you absolutely cannot stand, it's that you need to remember that they are family, and you love them. Try your best to enjoy what time you have, I know that as much as Tunia and I have our differences, she still loves me and wants the best for me – try to have a similar view on your situation, trust me, it makes the holidays that much more bearable._

_Mom is calling me to start helping in the kitchen so I need to end this short. See you in a week!_

_Love Lily_

Marlene finished reading the letter and laughed lightly at her friend's ability to predict her reactions. She pulled a small package from the envelope and un-wrapped the neatly packaged parcel carefully.

Lily had sent her some beautifully crafted quills that she had more than likely charmed herself – Lily had always been so gifted when it came to Charms.

Marlene was almost resentful that Marjorie had been in the room as she had to rush the owl away without being able to send off her reply. She folded the letter and put the contents back into the envelope, replacing the parcel back under the mattress to deal with after her family had left.

Since she had already given the excuse that she planned on taking a nap, Marlene took full advantage of the free time to pull out her book and continue reading.

She was quite pleased with her accomplishment as she managed to spend the remainder of the afternoon in the presence of no one but herself; Marjorie was clearly avoiding the upstairs bedroom more than likely afraid of another avian assault.

Dinner wasn't any less awkward than the earlier part of the day had been. Her mother's side of the family was boisterous and took every opportunity to upstage everyone else within earshot. Uncle Ned was stopping at nothing to try and perform his cliché magic tricks when Molly wasn't looking – more often than not he had to throw up his hands to cover a pretend cough in order to disguise the colored tissue poking out from his dress sleeve. Marlene could have sworn once that he had actually performed real magic when she saw Robert's plate hover slightly from the table but she conceded that it was entirely possible Robert would be receiving his Hogwarts letter shortly.

Uncle Tom and Aunt Betty were extremely modest and sat the majority of the dinner in silence. The exception to this was whenever one of their children began throwing mashed potatoes, or kicking Marjorie from under the table, they would firmly scold the culprit; occasionally there were a few threats to not receiving any dessert. The behavior would halt for a couple of minutes afterwards before an army of peas could be seen soaring through the air and landing in Grandpa Andrew's wine glass.

Molly seemed completely frazzled as she tried desperately to maintain some form of order at the dinner table. Dave ducked out for a good ten minutes, no doubt to choke down a much needed glass of brandy, before returning to sit the remainder of dinner in contemplative silence.

Marlene couldn't help but classify the event at highly humorous and enjoyed watching every minute of it. Her favorite part of the evening was when Deborah and Darlene began fighting over the last dinner roll, tugging on either corner of the plate, and Deborah eventually pulled hard enough that she caused Darlene to fall backwards – her arms outstretched and flailing knocked the pitcher of eggnog to go soaring into Marjorie; the mixture splashed all over her face, dripping down her tangled curls and drowning the entire front of her newly acquired satin dress.

The table went silent for a moment before the heavy breathing from Marjorie bounced off the walls and was amplified by the silence of the room. Her shoulders began shaking slightly as she grabbed the napkin from the table and pulled it in one smooth direction across her face.

Marlene had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud.

She wasn't the one to break the silence though; Uncle Ned let out a howl of laughter and was soon joined by a chorus of joyous banter from everyone else. Even Aunt Charis cracked a small smile before a distraught and irate Marjorie ran angrily from the table and into the bathroom. She did not emerge for the remainder of dinner and only appeared once the small children had left the table and disappeared into the living room to play with their presents.

Uncle Ned offered a mischievous wink to Marlene as Marjorie began complaining loudly about the stain on her dress. Marlene stifled a giggle and managed to mask it by taking a large swig of her eggnog.

"Let me take a look at it," Uncle Ned said seriously. Marjorie looked at him incredulously and huffed with disbelief.

"And how do you think you're going to get it out?" she said rather rudely in Marlene's opinion but nobody else at the table seemed to notice or care. "Magic?"

Uncle Ned laughed.

"There's no such thing as magic, Marjorie," he said with a jolly wave of his hand, "don't be silly."

Aunt Charis stiffened but it seemed that Marlene was the only one to notice. Marjorie pursed her lips but went upstairs and changed into a different outfit. When she returned into the dining room she tossed the damaged dress at Uncle Ned and gave him a daring look. He accepted the challenge by offering a winning smile and disappearing into the basement where the sound of running water from the laundry room could be heard.

"Foolish," Marjorie whispered to Marlene as she sat down beside her. The rest of the adults had begun conversing in polite banter, completely oblivious to the girls.

Marlene did not say anything. She was glad that the house would be empty of relatives in a day's time and glanced at the clock to confirm how much more of them she would have to endure.

Uncle Ned returned only a few minutes later with the satin garment firmly in his grasp. As he walked into the room, all eyes glanced up at him with curious gazes; their expressions each asking the same question.

"How did you do that?" Marjorie demanded as Uncle Ned handed her the garment. It was in perfect condition, almost as if it had never even been worn.

Marlene looked curiously at Uncle Ned who was smiling mischievously from a mug of steaming hot cocoa that Molly had begun passing around.

"Oh just some detergent that Molly keeps around downstairs," he said casually. "I've had numerous things spilt on me over the years," he indicated to the children that were running around in the living room, "It's become a trick of the trade."

Nobody seemed to press the issue but Marlene was definitely certain that he had, indeed, graduated from his cheesy muggle tricks this evening.

As Molly, Aunt Charis and Aunt Betty began cleaning the kitchen after dinner, the rest of the family filtered into the confined living room to continue with the festivities. Marjorie was complaining loudly at the lack of gifts under the tree and the young children were busy shaking parcels even at the protests of their father. Dave was in deep conversation with Bernie, no doubt about some form of sport or politics and Marlene was content to take up a game of muggle cards with Uncle Ned.

As the bustling noises in the kitchen carried through the house, a faint knocking at the front door was heard. Marlene looked up doubtfully, as though she was unsure she had heard it, but Dave had strode swiftly across the room and out into the front foyer where the sounds of a creaking door echoed in to the living room.

"Well now," he exclaimed just loud enough to be heard over the noise of a crashing pan. "What a pleasant surprise."

There was some type of grunting response but it wasn't intelligible enough for Marlene to understand what had been said.

"Bernie," Dave called out from the foyer. "Look what the storm brought in."

Nobody was really paying much attention and the noise in the room seemed to escalate even higher. The kids were running around, kicking wrapping paper that had been flung carelessly from the gifts Uncle Tom had reluctantly given in to letting them unwrap. Marjorie was busily filing her nails and had, thankfully, decided to keep quiet in the corner.

Only when Aunt Charis screamed from the kitchen did the noise in the room falter and the attention became focused on the doorway.

Uncle Bernie swiftly moved to leave the room and in the direction of the kitchen while Marjorie followed quickly with apparent curiosity. Neither of them managed to get through the doorway before Dave entered back in with a large figure following behind him.

"Son!" Bernie exclaimed excitedly. He moved forward and gave his son a firm handshake.

Marjorie looked disappointed and moved quietly back to her armchair.

"Happy Christmas," Bernie's son said gruffly. He acknowledged everyone in the room with a curt nod of his head. "We wanted to make sure we got to see you before the holidays were over."

"What a pleasant surprise," Bernie said happily. "I wasn't expecting you, we just finished dinner."

"We've already eaten," was the reply back he received.

Marlene moved her attention from her eldest cousin back to the card game she had been playing. As much distaste as she had for Marjorie, she lacked an equal amount of fondness for both cousins.

There was movement in the hallway behind them and a few more figures glided into the room. Marlene noticed that her Aunt Charis had tears streaming down her face but she looked delighted.

"What's going on here?" Uncle Bernie was the first to finally ask.

"We wanted to share our happy news," an unfamiliar feminine voice spoke up from the hallway. Marlene whipped her head back in the general direction and noticed that a tall, slender brunette had moved into view and had wrapped her bony arm around her cousin.

Her heart nearly dropped into her stomach.

"Mum, dad," Vernon said in what Marlene could only assume was meant to sound happy, "Petunia and I are getting married."

She pretended to be sorry to see them leave; promises of seeing one another soon and blessings of a holiday well spent were exchanged. Marlene tried hard not to let show the deceit as she bid her family goodbye and if they had suspected it, they did not let it be known.

"Try to behave?" Molly had whispered desperately as Marlene helped to set the table for the last breakfast before the crowded household became three once again.

"Don't I always, Mom?" she had smiled sweetly but apparently her mother did not find the situation very amusing.

After the house had emptied and Molly had resorted to spending the remainder of her day cleaning house, Marlene escaped to her bedroom where she was faced with the aftermath.

Her mind was reeling. Her cousin was marrying Lily's sister. How many times had Lily spoken of this Vernon bloke that her sister was dating and not once did Marlene ever piece the two together. She had desperately thrown herself behind the nearest magazine and refused to make eye contact with the visitors. She suspected that her presence had gone unnoticed by Petunia which she happily accepted. She wasn't sure if Vernon was aware of his soon to be sister-in-law's magical gift and, having met Petunia on one too many unpleasant occasions, she would surely recognize Marlene.

Unable to write Lily without the use of an owl, Marlene subjected herself to confinement on her discovery and instead focused her attention on cleaning her room.

"I suppose there really was no point in cleaning it before," she muttered under her breath to no one. The room was a complete disaster; the makeshift bed that Marlene had been forced into was strewn all over the floor, clothes were hanging on the door knob, under the bed, there was even a shirt hanging off the corner of a wall mounted picture frame. The carefully organized dresser she had spent hours fixing looked as though it had been ransacked by a burglar and she was missing various make-up items from her collection – presumably Marjorie's belated Christmas gift to herself.

Her day of relaxation became a tedious task of cleaning her bedroom. As she opened her closet to put away the last load of freshly washed laundry, she was relieved to discover that her trunk was still buried safely away in the back corner of the closet. She had draped an old and tattered blanket to cover it topped with a stack of scarcely filled cardboard boxes.

The evening was filled with helping her mother remove all the decorations from the house. The Christmas tree took the longest time as Molly continued to share the stories behind the tree decorations she had purchased or hand crafted over the years. Having heard each story from the years before, Marlene tried desperately hard to maintain her attention on her mother but often found her mind wandering onto much more tantalizing thoughts. Dave seemed to have the same thought except he had ducked out of the room much earlier and had disappeared somewhere; Marlene presumed out to the local pub to grab a drink and watch the sports channel.

As Marlene prepared herself for bed she allowed her eyes to wander towards the trunk now situated at the end of her bed and she contemplated whether or not she would spend tomorrow immersed in the selective stash of textbooks she had brought home with the intention of studying. Now that her family had departed for the holidays she was free to bring out her school textbooks without fear of an explosion of questions.

She felt an immediate sense of forlorn and decided that it could wait an extra day.

Except that Marlene knew better, she was fully aware that her textbooks would probably lay untouched the entire remainder of her holidays.

Of course she knew that she would regret it later, but for now Marlene was perfectly content to not care about anything at all.


	10. Part One: Chapter Ten

"What?" Lily was blinking at her with an emotionless face.

Marlene sighed. She had known that this was going to be an interesting conversation. The girls had met up with one another on the Hogwarts platform and Marlene had been quick to suggest to Lily that she was in desperate need to account for her holidays.

"I was surprised when I didn't hear back from you," she said almost dismissively before Marlene had even had a chance to speak, "and then I remembered that you probably wouldn't have the chance to reply to me while your family was around. I didn't even think that you wouldn't have the ability to send me a letter later."

"I'm really sorry about that," Marlene offered sincerely. "I really wanted to reply to you, believe me!"

And then she delved into her story of Christmas, watching Lily's face slowly pale and her smile falter.

"He's your cousin!?" she asked incredulously. Marlene nodded solemnly.

"Well then I suppose they deserve each other don't they?" Lily replied bitterly. The tone in her voice compared to that of the positive letter she had written to Marlene over the holidays regarding embracing family crossed Marlene's mind. It seemed apparent that something further had happened with Petunia since she had written it.

"What now?" Marlene pried, hopeful that Lily was feeling generous.

"It seems that they've moved up the wedding," Lily sighed. "Conveniently to a time when I am unable to attend because of school."

"Oh Lily," Marlene gave her friend a reassuring hug, "I'm so sorry."

"I guess it means that we can miserably miss it together," Lily laughed lightly once they had pulled away.

"It's a date," Marlene smiled. The girls gathered their belongings and began the search on the train for the compartment they assumed Mary had been saving for them. Once they found her they wasted no time filling her in on the events over the holidays.

It seems that she had also had an eventful Christmas as yet another inevitable breakup with Davey had transpired. She surprisingly didn't feel like discussing the matter and seemed rather indifferent about the subject.

"We broke up," she had said simply when the time came around for her to share. "Not much else to say about it."

Lily and Marlene took the hint and didn't pry any further.

The train ride was unusually long and uneventful. It seemed that a good portion of Hogwarts students had stayed at the school for their holidays as there were hardly any passengers on board.

"I would have thought everyone would want to be around their loved ones at a time like this," Mary had mused once the conversation had come around.

"I suppose that people just feel safer at Hogwarts," Marlene added but she couldn't help but agree with Mary that she would much rather spend as much time as possible with her family in such trying times.

Reading comprised the majority of the three girl's time on their ride home and not much conversation was offered until they had arrived safely at the Hogsmeade platform. Hagrid was greeting students in his usual fashion on the platform, guiding the students to the carriages that would take them to the castle. The chatter of the great hall was eminent as they entered in through the entrance, the anticipation of the feast quite possibly the most important thing on everyone's mind. Marlene felt her stomach growl and realized that chocolate frogs were probably not the most sensible meal she could have filled up on during the day.

The Gryffindor table was nearly filled by the time they entered and a quick scan of the table revealed that there were empty seats next to the Marauders. Marlene felt Lily tense up slightly at her side but never the less moved forwards to claim the chairs.

"He didn't message me once," she whispered quietly as they approached the table. The tone in her voice seemed surprised but nevertheless happy.

"Good evening," she offered politely as they sat down. The boys hardly glanced up at her from the intense conversation they appeared to be having.

"Hello Evans," James said simply before immersing himself back into his conversation.

Lily looked taken aback for a moment before smiling and focusing her attention on the head table. Once all the students had taken their seats, Professor Dumbledore rose from his seat and waited patiently for the chatter to die down.

"Good evening students," he announced cheerfully.

"Welcome back returning students, I'm sure you are all quite famished so let the feast begin."

"I feel guilty admitting that I didn't study all break," Lily acknowledged ruefully in between a swig of her pumpkin juice. "It was nice for once not to be focused so heavily on my grades."

"I suppose with Petunia being out of the house it gives you less reason to keep yourself busy?" Mary asked curiously and Lily nodded her head in agreement.

"I think that must be it," she sighed with relief. Marlene always knew that Lily prided herself in keeping busy; it only made sense that her strained relationship with her sister could be one of the underlying causes.

Surprisingly enough, the boys did not further acknowledge them. It did not seem to bother Lily too much and she was quick to absorb herself back into her prefect duties with Remus at the conclusion of the feast.

"I'll see you guys upstairs," she said as she kindly waited for Remus to bid goodbye to his friends. The two of them hurried off for their meeting as the rest of the hall began to exit for their dormitories.

"Heard from Bert lately?" Mary asked while trying to make idle chit chat. Marlene took a sharp breath. She had forgotten all about him over the holidays.

"No," she replied simply.

"I think he want's your attention," Mary pointed over towards the Hufflepuff table where the boy in question seemed to be making his way over through the crowd.

"I thought you girls were joking!" a voice said humorously from behind them. The remaining Marauder boys were within a foot away from them and had clearly been listening in. James was looking amused while Sirius had what appeared to be furrowed brows.

"Joking?" Mary didn't understand.

"About McKinnon snogging Aubrey in a broom closet," Potter offered her an explanation. He was laughing quietly but his counterpart did not seem to find it so amusing.

"I'm not snogging anyone in a broom closet," Marlene felt her cheeks turning pink. This was not turning out to be a comfortable conversation for her and the boy in question was slowly getting closer, surely he would have no trouble hearing them soon.

"Not yet anyways," Mary was grinning enthusiastically and James let out a howl of laughter.

"Hey Marlene," Bert had finally made his way over. He shot the boys an inquisitive glance at the sound of James laughter but quickly averted his gaze back to Marlene. "How were your holidays?"

"Oh they were good," she blushed furiously, willing that Potter and Black would disappear. Mary wasn't making things any easier as she was stifling her giggles beside her.

Bert looked between the teens uncomfortably.

"Ignore them," Marlene said quickly and made a step away from the group so that they were heading in opposite directions. "They clearly had too many cheering charms earlier in the day."

"Alright," he said skeptically but smiled at her friends with a quick wave as Marlene steered him away.

"Oy, McKinnon!" James shouted out to her but she had managed to put a number of students between them and his voice was slowly drowning out.

"I didn't realize you were friends with them," Bert mused quietly. He was obviously referring to the boys and it was the first time that Marlene toyed with the notion that the Marauders could be considered friends.

"We're not really," she hastily decided that she wasn't quite sure what she considered them too be.

"I meant to write you," he smiled sheepishly. It was clear he wasn't interested in pursuing a conversation about the Gryffindor boys and Marlene was more than happy to oblige.

"Oh," Marlene didn't know what else to say.

"The household was a bit crazy this year," he continued on. Marlene was vaguely aware that they had begun heading in the direction of the library. "Too many people crammed into one tiny house makes for a rather uncomfortable holidays!"

"Tell me about it!" Marlene laughed humorously. She knew all too well what that felt like. She felt slightly more at ease as they strolled through the scattered hallways, exchanging in light chatter. She had shared her horror of discovering that her cousin was marrying Lily's sister and he had empathized by revealing that his brother had married a troll of a witch during the summer and she had made it impossibly difficult for anyone to relax during the holidays.

"My mum can't stand her," he sighed deeply, "but she's part Veela and had my dad wrapped around her fingers from the moment they first met. He gave in a bit to some unnecessary frivolous wedding details without consulting mum and, well, that just led to quite a bit of tension before school started."

They had somehow made their way through the empty hallways to the vicinity of the Gryffindor common room. The halls were illuminated with candlelight from the torches on the walls; their shadows flitted across the floor in an eerie, yet satisfactory comfort as Marlene embraced the normality of the Hogwarts castle's surroundings she had become so familiar with over the years.

"I've never been up here before," he said simply while looking around. "Where's your common room?"

Marlene pointed towards the end of the hall where the portrait of the fat lady hung against the wall.

"I suppose I shouldn't steer you in the opposite direction now that we're here," he smiled. He had turned and looked down to catch his gaze with Marlene's. His green eyes were twinkling, illuminated by the candles adjacent to where they were standing. His grin widened a bit and his hand reached out to move a strand of Marlene's blonde hair out of her eyes.

She blushed at his touch but she couldn't tear her eyes away from his gaze. His hand lingered a moment on her face before he slowly dropped it down to his side.

"I'm glad we got to catch up," he said softly. He did not attempt to make a further move and for this, Marlene felt a mixture of disappointment and relief.

"Me too," she said with a small smile and she hesitated for a moment before she started to turn towards the Gryffindor tower, offering a wave goodbye. "Have a good night Bert."

"I'll see you tomorrow," his grin widened and he waved in reply making the butterflies in Marlene's stomach flitter around with intensity. "Goodnight."

Only Lily was waiting for her in the common room upon her entrance. There were very few students left and the quietness of the room led Marlene to believe that last minute homework assignments were more than likely the cause. Lily was happily reading her muggle fiction novel that she had been engrossed in on the train and almost didn't notice Marlene's presence until she had sat down on the couch next to her.

"Oh hey," she said while looking up from the pages of her novel. "I wasn't sure if you were going to make it back before curfew."

Although Lily was normally a stickler for the rules, Marlene couldn't help but notice the goofy grin that her friend was omitting.

"After what happened the last time I was caught out after hours?" Marlene shuddered involuntarily, "No thank you."

"Don't fancy another detention with Black?" Lily smirked at her briefly before returning her attention into her book.

In truth, the detention hadn't been all that bad. Sirius had been exceptionally well-behaved during their evening together. Marlene supposed that much of that had to do with the fact that the rest of his posse wasn't present at the time, however.

"What did you two talk about?" Lily casually asked while still staring fruitfully at the pages in front of her. Despite the fact that her attention seemed elsewhere, Marlene was aware that her friend was devoting her full attention to the question.

"Mostly about our holidays," Marlene recounted. "He brushed back my hair when we were saying goodnight."

Lily's face moved quickly away from the book and her eyes widened brightly. Her face had cracked into a gigantic smile.

"Did he kiss you?" she asked eagerly.

"No," Marlene said disappointed. She couldn't help the resurge of her previous mixed emotions on the matter and quickly accounted this to Lily.

"So you don't know if you want him to kiss you?" Lily asked in amazement.

"No, I'm not quite sure how I feel about the whole thing."

Lily looked contemplative for a moment. Her long, slender fingers drummed the back spine of her novel and she shifted her weight in the couch so that she was in a more comfortable position. She looked pointedly at Marlene for a few moments before speaking again.

"Does this have to do with," she suddenly lowered her voice to a whisper, "Black?"

Marlene spluttered slightly as she realized what Lily had just said.

"I'm sorry," she choked slightly, "did you just say Black?"

Lily nodded. She looked serious in her question and Marlene was left reeling with confusion.

"I do not like Sirius Black," Marlene finally said firmly. She hadn't ever consciously entertained the idea of feelings for him but the idea sounded absurd to her.

"Ok," Lily said believingly. "I just see how much extra attention he's been paying you lately, it's just unusual to see him around a girl so often I had to wonder."

Marlene shrugged the thought out of her mind and refocused their conversation back on track. Her newly discovered feelings for the seventh year Hufflepuff left her little time to dwell on the meaning behind Sirius Black's sudden increase of attention. She liked Bert, but her lack of experience in relationships left her feeling uneasy and completely out of her element.

"I should go to bed," Marlene stifled a yawn. Lily nodded her head but had absorbed herself once again in her novel. She made no move to remove herself from her place on the couch.

"Goodnight," she offered instead and Marlene bid her the same before heading up the staircase towards their shared dormitory for what she hoped would be an uninterrupted, peaceful night's sleep before beginning classes in the morning.

* * *

><p>Bert was waiting for her outside the Potions classroom the next morning. She was quick to notice him, casually leaning up against the dungeon wall. He was smiling politely to the students passing by but it was only when his eyes caught sight of her that his face broke out into a large grin.<p>

The butterflies were instantly stirred up again in the pit of her stomach at the sight of his presence. Marlene felt her nerves get the better of her as she approached him.

"Good morning," he said, the smile never wavering from his face. He politely acknowledged both Lily and Mary before asking Marlene if he could walk her to lunch.

"Of course," she smiled shyly at him and did not miss the amused look that passed between her friends as she said this.

They strolled ahead of Lily and Mary, Marlene was vaguely aware that their eyes were boring into their backs in obvious anticipation for what would happen next.

Either Bert hadn't sensed the awkwardness of the attention they were drawing or had chosen to ignore it, he was quick to engage Marlene in an animated conversation about his upcoming Quidditch match. She slowly allowed herself to forget about her nerves and absorbed herself in their conversation.

"Of course I can't offer up too much information to you," he winked casually at her when the conversation had turned into team tactics. "My opposition is within earshot."

Marlene glanced over her shoulder and noticed for the first time that James and Sirius were within earshot of their entire conversation. She scowled at them when she noticed that they had been listening in. James smiled happily at the realization that they had been discovered but Sirius's expression did not waver.

"Will you be going to the next game?" Bert asked hopefully and Marlene refocused her attention back to the boy walking beside her.

"Yes of course," Marlene said happily and was enlightened to see that this answer pleased him.

"Excellent," he said, his eyes flashed brighter and for a brief moment his hand brushed against hers as the crowded hallway they had begun walking through had forced them closer together. The contact was so quick that Marlene wasn't sure if she had imagined it and Bert made no acknowledgement that it had occurred.

They parted ways at the great hall with friendly goodbyes and Marlene was thankful that her friends had chosen not to make a big deal of it as she settled into her seat across from them.

"I like him," Lily said subjectively, "he seems really nice."

"I agree," Mary nodded her head in agreement and the subject quickly moved along to the befuddlement potion that they had been introduced to during the previous class.

Marlene did not see Bert for the rest of the afternoon and it was only during dinner that she was able to catch a glimpse of him sitting with his friends. He caught her eye and smiled at her, causing her to feel another sense of warm appreciation.


	11. Part One: Chapter Eleven

Bert's timing couldn't have been more impeccable. He seemed to have a knack of catching Marlene off guard and she vaguely wondered whether he assumed she was naturally ungracefully all the time or if he even failed to notice that each time they happened to run into each other she was always doing something clumsy or embarrassing.

The second week of school had started to pick up and the hectic bustle of exam preparation, homework and studying became an imminent thought on nearly every student's mind once more. Marlene was having a particularly difficult morning trying to cram the last few sentences of her Ancient Runes essay while using her other hand to shove the remaining pieces of her toast into her mouth before heading to class when a dark shadow cast over her parchment causing her to startle and knock her pumpkin juice all over her open textbook.

"Lily!" she hissed rudely as she scrambled to collect her essay before the trickling juice made its way over and ruined her hard work. "How many times are you going to bug me about chapter thirteen? I'll get to it when I have a few moments!"

Lily had succumbed once more to the overwhelming workload that had been dished out the previous week. She had taken it upon herself to ensure her friends were equally absorbed in their studies and Marlene's patience was starting to wear thin.

"Sorry," an unfamiliar voice broke her train of thought. Marlene had begun mopping up the spilled juice with leftover parchment paper when a soft mutter from over her left shoulder produced an incantation that magically absorbed the seeping liquid from under her hand.

She mentally kicked herself for not thinking to use her wand that had been sitting on the table next to her before she turned her head around to meet the smiling face of Bert.

"Good morning," he said politely. "I thought I'd help you out, you seem a bit stressed today?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed as she suddenly realized that Lily was not the one to interrupt her and immediately felt embarrassment at her lack of manners in greeting him.

"Everything alright?" he tilted his head towards her unfinished essay and she quickly scrambled to roll up the parchment and shove it, along with her sopping wet textbook, into her book bag.

"It's great," she said hastily before quickly standing up beside him. He was a couple of inches taller than her and she had to tilt her head upwards to look into his eyes. "Good morning, sorry about that."

"It's Monday," he joked lightly with a small chuckle, "I suppose you're allowed to be a little disorganized."

Students had begun scattering the hall for first period and Marlene took a quick glance at the clock to confirm that she was running a bit behind.

"Sorry to dash," she said hurriedly, "but I'm going to be late if I don't leave now."

"Potions?" he asked almost immediately and Marlene's face flickered slightly with surprise.

'I just assumed," he said quickly. He looked slightly embarrassed with the realization that his comment had sounded presumptuous as if he had studied her schedule.

"Potions always takes so long to get to," he added as an afterthought.

"Yes, actually," she replied with a small smile. "On both accounts."

"Do you mind if I walk you?" he asked as he started to walk beside her and out into the entrance hall. "I have History of Magic which isn't far from the basement."

"Sure," she said, trying hard not to sound too surprised.

The walk was slightly intimidating for Marlene at first as she struggled to start a conversation. She didn't need to dwell on it long as Bert was the first to break the awkward silence.

"I've never been a fan of ghosts," he mused quietly. They had passed by Nearly Headless Nick in the corridor and it had seemed to strike some sort of memory for Bert.

Apparently before starting his first year, his oldest brother Markus had tricked him into thinking that if he touched a ghost he would become one. Bert had spent his entire first year avoiding, hiding and running away from Peeves who had been tipped off undoubtedly by Markus.

"Eventually Peeves caught up to me, cornered me while I cowered beside a statue of armor outside the great hall. It was unfortunate that a large group of Slytherin students were all gathered nearby too, it made my embarrassment all that much more humiliating," he looked forlorn at the memory. "I thought that I had died and kept screaming. A couple of fourth years passing by had to drag me to Madam Pomfrey so she could assure me that I was fine."

Marlene couldn't help herself but laugh. Bert even cracked a large grin himself but something told Marlene that he had still not forgiven his brother for some of the more humiliating tricks he had played on him as a young boy.

"I suppose your family gatherings are quite interesting then?"

"Markus has grown up quite a bit since then," Bert looked relieved at the thought. "He's the one who just got married over the summer. It's his wife that we have to worry about now."

They had arrived outside of Bert's classroom and their conversation was brought to an end. Marlene had enjoyed the much needed distraction from her Ancient Runes essay that, until now, had lay forgotten at the bottom of her bag. She was almost sad to say goodbye to the welcomed company.

"This is me," he said in an obvious statement. "What are your plans for tomorrow evening?"

"Probably studying," she scrunched her face with dislike for the thought.

"Not that I want to distract you or anything," he continued, "but if you'd like some help or even just some company, I'd be happy to join you."

Marlene contemplated the thought for a moment. She had enjoyed the last time they had studied together, although it hadn't really been very productive. She had to admit that she liked being in Bert's presence as there was something comfortable and enjoyable about it which made it extremely difficult for her to say no to his request.

"Sure," she replied after a brief moment of thought. "How about we meet after last period in the library?"

'It's a date," he smiled widely before waving goodbye and entering into his classroom. Only then did Marlene really realize that she had been stalling and would be late for Potions if she didn't get a move on it.

She brushed past a few first year students in such a hurry that she was almost positive she had knocked some text books out of one of their hands. She didn't even bother to look back as she turned the corner and found the familiar door leading down to the dungeons, something she felt terrible about but did not dwell on as her looming tardiness crept to the foremost of her thoughts.

"Where's the fire, McKinnon?" Marlene had flung open the dungeon doors, started pelting down the staircase and nearly threw herself into Sirius's back at the bottom of the stairs where he and the rest of the Marauder gang were congregated.

"Apparently you're not overly concerned if you're late to class," she replied with a huff of aggravation, "but I do."

"Nobody's late except for Professor Slughorn," James laughed from beside his friend. He was slumped carelessly against the brick wall and indicated his hand outwards for Marlene to follow. Her eyes followed the direction it was pointed and noticed that more than half of her classmates were standing around outside the Potions classroom, waiting for their Professor to arrive.

"Oh," Marlene felt relieved that she had arrived in time for her class and then felt foolish for being so careless as to not watch where she was headed.

Marlene moved past them and caught sight of Lily and Mary on the opposite side of the circle of peers. Lily was throwing daggers at James and Marlene briefly wondered whether or not she had a recent row with the Gryffindor boy.

"What did Potter do this time?" she asked casually as she approached them. She was careful to drop her voice low so that the surrounding students wouldn't be able to hear her; something Lily was very adamant about.

"The usual," Mary said with boredom. She was twirling her hair between her fingers and staring absentmindedly towards the staircase from which Marlene had just come.

"Where is Professor Slughorn?" Lily changed the subject before another comment could be made. "It's not like him to be this late."

Lily was right. Marlene had taken note of the clock and realized that, had her professor not been tardy, she would have been nearly ten minutes late for her lecture.

"What took you so long to get here?" Mary asked, jolting from her reverie and turning her gaze towards Marlene.

"Oh," Marlene's brain raced back to the Ancient Runes essay. She didn't dare say in front of Lily that she hadn't finished it so instead she racked her brain for a different answer. "Bert wanted to talk."

Mary's face lit up almost immediately. Despite the fact that Marlene wasn't particularly in the mood to discuss her blossoming relationship with the Hufflepuff boy, she ended up reliving the prior thirty minutes of her morning in order to satisfy her friend's curiosity. She discovered that while she talked animatedly about Bert, she couldn't help the smile that continued to form at the corners of her lips.

"He likes you," Mary stated firmly. Even Lily nodded her head in agreement causing Marlene to blush a light pink.

"Excuse me, coming through!" the bellowing voice of Professor Slughorn finally echoed the dungeon corridor and Marlene turned her head towards the staircase to watch him push through the Marauders and make his way towards the door.

"Sorry about that children," he chuckled joyfully. "Got a bit preoccupied and lost track of the time!"

The students around her began moving inwards into the classroom and Marlene joined Lily and Mary at their usual empty table near the front of the room.

"Today we will focus on Strengthening solutions," Professor Slughorn announced from the front of the room. He lifted a large cauldron onto his desk and beckoned for the students to gather around his desk for a closer look.

As Marlene moved closer to it she became aware of the sweet scent that it produced and as she looked around the room she noticed that she wasn't the only one that seemed intoxified by its aroma.

"This potion generally has a sweeter aroma when brewed correctly," Professor Slughorn continued. "You do not want to try this potion when it smells particularly foul or bitter; could have some nasty effects on your magical abilities for the remainder of the day."

He ushered the students back to their desks and began writing the ingredients on the board.

"Now open your text books to page eighty seven and I shall pair you into partners for this task."

Marlene felt relieved to hear that she didn't have to go about the potion alone. As Slughorn began calling names off she drew a sharp intake of breath, hoping to be paired with Lily.

"McKinnon," he called out with a quick glance in her direction, "and Potter."

Lily offered a sympathetic smile before Marlene grabbed her belongings and headed towards the back of the room. James was settled at a table with Remus and Alice already which made Marlene feel slightly more confident that she would have plenty amount of help should James turn out to be just as horrendous at Potions as she was.

He smiled cheekily at her as she sat in the chair next to him to which she replied with a lazy half smile.

"Don't think we've ever been paired up before," he stated definitively.

Marlene remained silent but her mind raced back to second year when they had been paired together to work on potting mandrake's in Herbology. He had thought it funny to lift her ear muff off of her ear half way through her potting, causing her to black out for nearly three hours. She had awoken in the hospital bed with Lily and Mary beside her; both girls had witnessed his heinous act and tried to ensure that James had paid for his odious behavior.

Unfortunately, it was at this stage in their schooling that the girls became aware of just how charming James Potter could truly be. He had approached Professor Sprout with some lame story about how he had only been trying to adjust Marlene's earmuff because it had come loose and only got off with a five point reduction from Gryffindor and a warning.

It was in second year that Lily really started to detest him. For the longest time he seemed to get away with so many obnoxious behaviors with only a slap on the wrist from their professors and it had made her blood boil to watch him charm his way around a detention. It must have been closer to third year that James had realized pranking and torturing individuals was well worth the detention and, although he was still naturally very good at charming his way to getting things he wanted, he and Sirius had lost their lucky streak when it came to avoiding detention and punishments.

Not that they seemed to mind though; it had become apparent that they were proud of having such a notorious reputation.

As Marlene opened her text book to page eighty seven, James had already begun dividing the salamander's blood and had laid out the Alihotsy plant for her to begin chopping.

"I dare you to eat the leaves," he joked while he began adding the first of the ingredients to their boiling cauldron. Marlene looked disdainfully at him but he seemed not to notice as he was too busy examining the large boils that had begun bubbling within the cauldron.

"You can't be serious?" she replied hazily. She had begun cutting up the plant, trying to ignore the fact that a putrid odor had already started to make its way around the room. "I'm not that naïve."

"I never said you were," he said absentmindedly. His eyes had wandered to the front of the room and it was apparent to Marlene that he was not paying his full attention to the cauldron in front of him.

"Potter!" she hissed loudly. She reached her hand forward to grab the stirring stick from his hand. The movement startled him and he jumped slightly as his face swiveled around to look at her.

"It's three times counter clockwise, not clockwise!" she groaned loudly as she had realized that a large aura of the foul smelling stench in the room was coming from their cauldron.

"I thought you were terrible in potions?" he mused quietly. Marlene had to bite her tongue to remind herself that James and Sirius generally weren't intending to sound rude with their comments. If there were meant to be rude, you would be able to know the difference; something she had learned over the course of the past few months.

"Yes well," she replied as she tried desperately to reverse the effect of the incorrect movement James had made. "Just because I'm terrible at it doesn't mean I can't read the instructions."

"Touche," he laughed. His eyes had refocused on the front of the room and Marlene felt annoyed that he was only half paying attention.

"Stop staring at Lily," she whispered harshly under her breath. "No wonder she's always annoyed with you, you don't leave her alone."

James turned his gaze back to her and frowned.

"That's not true!"

Marlene gave him a skeptical glance back before turning her attention back to the potion.

The rest of the hour went by quickly and by the end of class the dungeon classroom was filled with a smoky haze and a less than appealing stench.

"Sort of reminds you of pickling brains," Sirius winked at Marlene as he rejoined James at the back of the room.

Marlene groaned as she was reminded of the foul detention she had served before the Christmas holidays.

"Don't remind me."

* * *

><p>"You're getting better," Sirius encouraged after about an hour. He had joined her in the common room after Lily and Mary had abandoned her for other priorities and offered his assistance. They had started rather late, Sirius insisting that she finish reading chapter thirteen before continuing as he insisted that it would give a bit more insight to their study. He had reminded her so much of Lily when his mind was set on studying. He had been wrong, or so Marlene was content to believe, but even she was able to notice a slight improvement in her abilities since their last time together.<p>

"Soon you'll be as good as me!" he smiled cheekily and Marlene rolled her eyes at his pathetic attempts to boost her confidence.

"Really?" she played along.

"Well," he stopped and pretended to ponder something, "Maybe not as good, but definitely able to pass your N.E.W.T.s."

"Gee thanks," she replied with remote criticism. "I can hardly wait."

"You joke now but wait until exam time and then you'll really have a change of attitude."

He was right and Marlene knew that. She was thankful that he had been patient enough to put up with her over the past hour and she was starting to doubt that she would have ever been able to accomplish as much as she had without him.

"Thanks," she said sincerely and Sirius looked at her curiously as though he had no idea what she was thanking him for.

"For what?" he voiced his confusion.

"This," she replied as she waved her hands around as though to emphasize the room. Sirius's eyes followed her hand movement but the curiosity in his eyes remained. "For your help," she continued, "I don't know how I'd have done it without you."

"Ah," his face lit up with understanding. He smiled and for once it seemed not to be a charming or playful, quirky smile that Marlene was so used to, this time it looked genuine. In fact, he looked much more attractive to Marlene with this smile than he ever had before and she felt her pulse quicken as she realized she had been staring into his eyes.

"Right," she turned her face away, trying to hide her embarrassment. "I think I need a break."

"Good idea!" Sirius hadn't seemed to have noticed but her request was greatly welcomed and he quickly excused himself, offering that he would be right back. Marlene watched him dash up the stairs to the boys dormitory before she allowed herself to scan the busy common room in search of her friends.

Lily and Mary were nowhere to be seen and Marlene figured that Lily had probably joined Mary in the library after her prefect duties. Alice was sitting by the fireplace with Frank Longbottom; she looked upset about something and Frank seemed to be comforting her.

She was distracted from her curiosity of Alice and Frank as Sirius came dashing back down the stairs and towards her. He had something shoved into the nook of his arm and Marlene craned her head to get a better look at what it was.

"Ready to go?" he offered his hand out to help her up and she stared at it for a minute before hesitantly grabbing hold and allowing him to pull her up from the couch.

His hand was warm and soft and she shivered slightly as she felt an electric pulse course through her body when their hands touched. Almost immediately after she had stood he let go of her hand and Marlene was embarrassed to discover that she was slightly disappointed by the action.

She frowned and mentally scolded herself for it before answering his question.

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise," he replied mysteriously and ushered her towards the portrait hole.

"It's nearly curfew," she argued as she realized that he was intending for them to leave the common room. He didn't answer but instead pushed lightly on the small of her back, encouraging her to trust him.

Outside in the hallway it was clear to Marlene that they were dangerously close to curfew; the corridors were dimly lit and she could see from the windows how dark the night sky and prominent the night moon were across the grounds. As though he could sense her hesitation he leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Evans and MacDonald aren't even back yet, you've got plenty of time."

She shivered at his closeness but willed herself to relax as he continued to guide her further from the common room. They walked in silence until they were in the main entrance hall. He led her towards a door located to the right of the main staircase and they descended downwards to a section of the castle that Marlene had never been before.

"Where are we?" she couldn't help but whisper due to her nerves of getting caught. Sirius chuckled as if he sensed this but did not reply. Instead he continued to push on the small of her back, encouraging her forward until they reached a large painting of a bowl of fruit. They stopped in front of it and Marlene turned to give Sirius an incredulous look.

"Tickle the pear," Sirius instructed her and Marlene obliged.

The portrait opened up to reveal the Hogwarts kitchens, something Marlene had never contemplated until now as she stood staring into the massive room. There was a large brick fireplace at the back of the kitchen with a roaring fire that illuminated the room with a welcoming and cozy haze. It illuminated the large brass pots and pans that hung, shining from the flickering light, to the walls.

"I figured we could grab a snack to refuel," Sirius stepped past her, allowing the portrait to swing close behind them. He walked forward and was immediately greeted by three house elves.

"Good evenings Mr. Black," one of them squeaked and Marlene jumped from the sheer shrillness of his voice. She peered curiously at the creature as she had never seen a house elf before and had only ever read about them in _Hogwarts: A History._

"Hello Olli," Sirius greeted back, "do you think my friend Marlene and I could grab a snack?"

Within seconds, food appeared on the table in front of Marlene as though it had apparated out of thin air. There were pastry cakes, chicken legs, and mince meat pies even along with a variety of other favorite food items that caused her mouth to water.

"Help yourself," Sirius pointed to the obvious pile of food before grabbing a pastry and settling down into a chair nearby.

Marlene hesitated before grabbing a couple of items and settling down in a chair across him.

The two of them chatted aimlessly about school related matter, neither of them paying too much attention to the time before Marlene glanced at the clock on the wall and noted that they were, indeed, out nearly an hour after curfew.

"How did we lose track of the time so quickly?" she exclaimed after she had informed him of this.

"Live a little," he smiled. "It's fun to break the rules every once in a while."

Marlene bit her lip but didn't say anything further on the subject.

Until now, Marlene had forgotten about the large bundle that Sirius had hidden in the nook of his arm at the beginning of their journey. He moved across the room and picked it up from the shelf he had placed it when they had first arrived at the kitchens. Marlene glanced at it with renewed curiosity. Sirius, noticing this, grinned widely and unraveled a magnificent cloak.

"You always were curious about how the Marauders do their business late into the night without getting caught," he began explaining. "I think I'm ready to share a Marauder secret with you, provided you promise not to tell a single sole."

Marlene was still staring at the cloak with incredulity. She moved her gaze up to lock eyes with Sirius before she raised her eyebrows.

"What in Merlin's name is that thing?"

Sirius answered by flinging the coat around his shoulders – and then there was emptiness where he once stood.

"Black!" Marlene couldn't help it; she shrieked. There was a slight rustle and Sirius reappeared, the cloak thrown from one side now hung limply in his hands.

"Are you trying to wake the Hufflepuffs, McKinnon?" he looked cross but there was a small smile playing on his lips that told Marlene he had enjoyed tormenting her.

"What is that?" she tried again and this time he answered her.

"An invisibility cloak," he said casually as though it were the most obvious answer.

Marlene continued to stare at the cloak with amazement as Sirius approached her. He lifted it once more and beckoned for her to join him underneath it.

"I don't bite," he laughed after she hesitated.

"So this is how we're sneaking back to the common room undetected?" she questioned him after she had sidled in beside him. Though there was still plenty of room to spare, the space between them was rather cozy and Marlene could feel the warmth of Sirius's breath on her neck as they exited the kitchen and began the long walk back to the common room.

"Just because nobody can see us," he reminded her, "they can still hear us."

"Right," she nodded her head and lowered her voice.

The remainder of the walk went by quickly. They passed peeves on the third floor and Marlene was suddenly reminded of the story Bert had shared with her previously in the day. She giggled to herself quietly and offered no explanation to Sirius when he questioned it.

Once back in the common room, Marlene was less than surprised to discover that it was completely empty. Their books lay untouched at the table they had been studying at but Sirius headed straight for the couch by the flickering fire.

"You're much more fun to hang around when you're not so uptight," he had meant it as a compliment but Marlene felt her ears sting slightly with annoyance.

"I'm glad that's convenient for you," she replied back with an unintended attitude. Marlene settled herself in the seat next to him and he looked over at her with a smirk, clearly realizing that he had touched a nerve.

"Relax McKinnon," he chuckled. He stretched his arms out to cradle the back of the couch and Marlene became aware at how close they were sitting. His arm did not touch her but she could feel the fabric of his sweater tickle the back of her neck and she breathed in his intoxicatingly musky scent.

"Do you have any siblings?" he asked quietly. He was staring into the fire and she could see the reflection of the flames dancing in his eyes. He looked comfortable and at ease and something about his tone and demeanor indicated to Marlene that he was deep in thought about something.

"No," she replied. She slouched back into the couch and joined him in watching the mesmerizing flicker of the fire. "I know you have a brother," she continued, "how about any others?"

"No," he replied simply. He held no facial expression as he allowed the silence to continue on for a few moments. "My family and I don't get on very well. I left home during the summer to live with the Potters, I'm pretty sure I've been disowned by the entire lot of them now."

"I'm sorry," Marlene felt sympathetic but Sirius laughed almost humorously. When he looked up from his gaze into the fire his eyes were sparkling.

"Don't be," he smiled. "Best thing that's probably ever happened to me."

"What are your plans after graduation?" Marlene found herself asking in an attempt to change the subject.

"I'm joining the battle," he said effortlessly. "There's a group of people dedicated to stopping Voldemort," Marlene shuddered, which Sirius ignored. "I couldn't possibly see myself doing anything else."

Marlene watched his expression develop into hatred as his thoughts became focused on the Dark Lord and all of the recent attacks and murders. She turned back to the fire and laid her head back so that she could feel it resting on the warmth of Sirius's arm.

"You're planning to become a healer, right?" he asked curiously. Marlene nodded but Sirius didn't say anything further.

He shifted slightly and Marlene could feel that he had moved closer. She didn't mind at all; he was a comfort to her and she was beginning to realize how much she actually enjoyed being around him.

They sat in silence for an uncalculated length of time before Marlene felt her eyelids getting heavy from the dim lighting of the room. She let out a large yawn and without giving much thought to her actions she shifted her body weight closer to Sirius and leaned her head to rest against his shoulder. Her eyes began losing focus and she struggled to keep them staring into the fire.

"You're tired," he stated obviously though he made no movement to push her away.

"Perhaps a little," she replied sleepily. Sirius's hand that had been positioned behind her moved to stroke a piece of hair that had fallen into her face and she shuddered slightly from his touch.

"Sorry," he said apologetically and quickly moved his hand away.

"No don't," she mumbled as she snuggled further into his shoulder. "I don't mind."

They stayed like that for a little while longer before Marlene's insistent drowsiness caused Sirius to shake her awake and insist she go to bed. She fought him on it momentarily before conceding defeat and made to move towards her pile of textbooks at the back of the room.

"No," Sirius stated firmly. He directed her towards the girl's staircase. "I'll get your things. You can collect them in the morning."

"Night Black," she yawned before stumbling towards the staircase and towards her dormitory without waiting for his reply.


	12. Part One: Chapter Twelve

In the week leading up the Quidditch match, Marlene didn't get much time to spend with Bert except for their walks in between classes. He had taken it upon himself to wait for her outside the classroom in the period directly before lunch. They would walk together to the great hall before parting ways for the day.

She didn't have much time to dwell on this as she found herself once again engulfed in the never ending pile of homework and he fell into the usual pressuring that all Quidditch players faced in the wake of a match.

The tension seemed high as the Hufflepuff vs. Gryffindor Quidditch match loomed closer. Normally the teams seemed a bit on edge the week leading up to each match, no doubt a result of the insurmountable amount of extra practice they were required to put in and the exceedingly high expectation to win. Marlene had always been aware of this tension but it seemed that some members of the Gryffindor team were even more unbearable in the week leading up to the match than ever before.

Marlene became well aware of this during Potions class when Professor Slughorn announced that they would be switching up partners for their befuddlement draughts.

"Alright class," he announced loudly in his attempt to capture the class's attention. It took a few attempts before he was able to take hold of the class and begin his lecture.

"The last few classes we focused on Strengthening solutions and now I believe is as good a time as any to begin to attempt our skills at Befuddlement Draughts. Let's try some new pairings, shall we? Pettigrew and Snape."

Peter's eyes widened and Snape's lip curled with obvious disgust. Professor Slughorn continued on without noticing the unfriendly exchange that passed between the boys.

"MacDonald and Lupin."

Marlene felt her heart sink slightly. She knew that she wouldn't be lucky enough to be paired again with Remus but he had been an excellent partner and she was sad that they would not be working together.

"Black and McKinnon."

Marlene felt a new sense of panic as she realized that he had just paired her with Sirius. Sure, she had been getting along decently with him in the last few months and he had proven to her that he was completely capable of excelling in his studies, but she had never been paired with him in class before and he was famous for wasting his class coming up with pranks with James. Not to mention that her previous pairing with his best mate had been less than desirable. She groaned inwardly at the thought that the majority of their class would be spent trying to wrangle him into focus and she dreaded the thought of being caught in the middle of another failed prank.

Marlene hadn't spoken to Sirius since the morning she had grabbed her textbooks from him the previous week. He had seemed rather tense afterwards and made no attempt to pursue any sort of communication. She felt a different sense of apprehension as she observed the look on his face as their names were called out together.

Sirius didn't seem too pleased about the pairing. Of course, Marlene wasn't sure whether or not this had to do with the fact that he was irritable from Quidditch tension, or he genuinely was displeased with their pairing.

He didn't even look at her as he sunk down into the seat beside her. Marlene was instantly able to feel his irritation after she offered him a feeble smile and wasn't even offered a blink of the eye in return.

"And finally, Potter and Evans."

The classroom went quiet. Marlene quickly forgot about her thoughts on Sirius and her head swiveled to look at her friend on the other side of the classroom. Lily's face had paled slightly and her hand shot up into the air. James on the other hand, looked absolutely delighted.

Finally, a smirk broke out across Sirius's face.

"Sir," Lily called out when Professor Slughorn failed to call upon her.

"Yes Miss Evans," he glanced over at her with surprise.

"I thought I heard you incorrectly," she said firmly, "I thought you said I was paired up with Potter."

"You heard me correctly my dear," Professor Slughorn looked surprised. He turned his attention to the rest of the class and began offering instruction to begin. His back turned and he began scribbling the list of ingredients on the board.

Lily looked shocked. It was common knowledge between the Professors at Hogwarts that James and Lily did not get along. They had not been paired up for assignments in years, surely something that Slughorn would have full familiarity of.

"How do you suppose that will go?" Marlene tried breaking the tension by offering up a casual conversation starter with Sirius. He ignored her.

"Black?" she asked questioningly when he failed to acknowledge her first question. He raised his eyebrows slightly but did not turn to look at her.

"Did I do something to upset you?" she couldn't help herself from asking. She watched as his mouth twitched slightly as if he was finding the right words to say before he settled on shaking his head at her.

"Let's just do this assignment, ok? It's pretty complicated and we don't have time to waste."

His words stung Marlene as they came out perhaps more harshly than he had intended. She couldn't be quite sure but she did not pursue it any further. It was clear from the rest of the class that he was extremely irritable as he was constantly snapping at her for adding ingredients too early or not cutting up pieces into the proper sizes.

"McKinnon," he said flatly, "they need to be one half an inch those pieces are far too small!"

Professor Slughorn didn't seem to agree, however. Upon his inspection he offered up encouragement that their potion was coming along rather nicely. Marlene felt her patience with Sirius's unpleasant treatment of her beginning to wear thin by the end of the class as they were constantly bickering over the correct texture of their concoction.

"It is supposed to be thicker," he snapped with irritation.

"If you looked at the instructions on the board it says that after directly adding sneezewort it is supposed to thin out before it thickens," she retorted back. He narrowed his eyes at her which she returned with fierceness.

Surprisingly enough, the two students to get along well together were Lily and James. A quick scan over to their station told Marlene that they were working in harmony. Lily had even laughed a few times and was smiling. Professor Slughorn had seemed exceptionally pleased with their potion as he walked by it.

"Marvelous!" he had exclaimed. This only seemed to make Sirius more agitated.

His attitude had reached its peak at the end of class. The potion had started thickening but was still slightly off in color. Marlene had felt rather impressed with their performance; her potion skills were exceedingly less notable than her partners, this much was obvious to Marlene as she had witnessed the finesse that Sirius had executed all class, but she had managed to confidently implement the directions given without second guessing her handiwork. Sirius, it seemed, was doing a good enough job doing that for her.

"The only befuddling going on here is your inept ability to follow a simple instruction," he had snapped one last time as the color of their potion had started turning a murky brown instead of the light grey it was supposed to. Marlene had had enough and at the commencement of class she had whipped out her want and pointed it firmly towards the legs of his chair.

"Evanesco," she said angrily. And as if she had never experienced a single problem with her vanishing spell, the legs of the chair disappeared with such perfection that Sirius went crashing to floor.

"How's that for an inept ability to follow instruction," she retorted quietly. "How's my concentration and confidence now, Black?"

Thankfully, Professor Slughorn had stepped out of the classroom and into his office so her actions were only witnessed by the few students surrounding their work station. A few snickers could be heard from around the room, presumably from the Slytherins that Sirius had bullied over the years but Marlene didn't bother to pay them any attention.

Sirius had a look of stupor on his face as though he hadn't been expecting retaliation. Marlene didn't stick around long enough to see his next reaction. She shoved her text books into her book bag and turned on her heel, pushing her chair away with such force that it tipped over, and walking briskly out of the classroom.

Bert was waiting for her, smiling. She couldn't help but feel slightly agitated by it.

"Hello," he said sweetly. Marlene didn't even wait for her friends as they proceeded towards the great hall for lunch.

The week went by slowly; Marlene and Sirius avoided speaking. Only during potions did they offer any sort of communication with each other and even when there was an exchange, it was curt and to the point. Sirius's hostility did not dwindle towards her and his irritable mood was noticeable even where Marlene was not concerned.

Even James seemed put out with his best friends attitude. Marlene had witnessed them arguing a couple of times in the common room, something she had never witnessed before.

"Stop being such a prat," James had said loudly in the hallway one afternoon. Sirius did not reply but disappeared down an adjoining hallway.

"Trouble in paradise?" a passing Slytherin snickered at James and was rewarded with a trip-jinx.

Finally the day of the match arrived. It was a chilly January afternoon and the sun was hiding behind the clouds, the missing sunshine left the grounds feeling colder than desired and extra layers were deemed necessary for the devoted fans that made the commitment to venture out.

Even Lily had had a change in heart about attending the match and had even conjured up a perfect warming charm to keep the girls from feeling the full effect of the harsh outside elements. Breakfast had been extremely tense. Sirius and James weren't speaking to one another and the entire Gryffindor team seemed to be at an impasse at the hands of their unforgiving feud.

Even Remus and Peter were steering clear of the duo and Marlene was surprised when they settled into the seats beside the girls, passing on the opportunity to join their friends at the opposite end of the table.

Quite quickly enough the Gryffindor team pulled themselves from the great hall to prepare themselves for the match and the tension in the hall eased slightly. The Hufflepuff table seemed animated; their team appeared to be in good spirit, engaging with other students open and freely as though they weren't feeling the pressures of the game.

Marlene didn't have a chance to speak with Bert before he bustled off with the rest of his team mates but he had looked over at her and offered a wave as they exited the great hall.

"So are you dating Aubrey?" Peter asked quite suddenly as Bert disappeared from view. Marlene hadn't been expecting the question and she choked slightly on the glass of orange juice she had raised to her lips.

"No," she said too quickly. "I don't know."

"Oh," Peter stated, shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to pick at the eggs that covered his plate.

"Mind if we sit with you girls today?" Remus asked casually, changing the subject much to the pleasure of a grateful Marlene.

"Of course not," Mary said brightly before either of the other girls could open their mouths. Remus and her exchanged smiles.

Lily glanced over at Marlene and half rolled her eyes in good nature. It had seemed that Mary was already forgetting about her newly ex-boyfriend Davey, whom she had not spoken with since the Christmas holidays.

The group of students finished their breakfast and, after bundling up with extra clothing, joined the rest of the students on their way to the Quidditch pitch. Lily conjured up her warming charm and they settled into the bleachers in anticipation of the game. Despite the weather, it seemed that team spirit was not lacking; a quick glance around the stadium indicated that the majority of the student body had joined them. The exception of course, was the Slytherins.

"Teams, mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch called from center field as a parade of Red and Yellow had entered from opposite corners.

"And they're off for what appears to be a promising game!" the announcers voice magically magnified the stadium and there was a generous uproar of cheering that followed.

"Hoopers got a nice lead on the quaffle, looks like he's trying to feint to the right – and passes off to Potter!" the excitement in the announcer grew audibly amidst the cheers. "Although a nice attempt for Gryffindor, looks like the pass was intercepted by Aubrey for Hufflepuff. He dives out of the way of Black's bludger and makes his way back towards the Gryffindor goal posts."

Marlene couldn't help herself but she let out a big cheer as Bert diverted the Gryffindors pass and managed to carry the quaffle all the way back to the opposite end of the pitch. He was quite graceful on his broomstick, swerving in and out of the other players with ease. He had dodged Sirius' bludger with a quick dive downwards before shooting up and into a spiral out of the way of yet another.

"Which team are you cheering for?" Remus frowned slightly at her and she was almost taken aback by his sudden change in demeanor.

"Gryffindor of course," Marlene smiled shyly and she mentally willed herself to keep her future excitement about watching Bert's performance to herself.

"Looks like Kirke has become the victim of yet another bludger attack – Oy, Kirke, keep your eyes out mate!"

Dennis Kirke had been too preoccupied trailing behind Amos Diggory that he had narrowly missed being hit in the head with a bludger sent his way by his opponents. Luckily, Sirius had sent back a retaliating bludger, hitting Darren Johnson's broomstick and forcing him to spin into a spiral. The two of them spent another good twenty minutes targeting each other before they tired of their game and refocused on derailing the Chasers.

"Potter scores for Gryffindor!" roared through the stadium and the crowd around Marlene erupted. By about an hour in it was easy to assume that the Gryffindor team had been having a rough match. They were trailing behind 230 to 60 and the realization that they were losing was causing even more demoralization to the team.

"What's going on with those two?" Lily asked suddenly during a brief time-out. Sirius and James were yelling at each other and looked ready to start a fight. Sirius's hands were balled into fists, as if ready to swing at the boy in front of him.

"Er," Remus looked apprehensive. Marlene did not miss the lingering look he had on her before focusing his attention to Lily. "Sirius is just having a bit of a rough time right now; he's been taking out his frustration in the wrong ways."

"He's going to hurt someone," Mary mused as they watched the team kick back off into the air. Sirius didn't miss his first opportunity to swing a bludger menacingly at his opposition.

"Hooper steals the quaffle from Aubrey, he makes his way back down to the end of the pitch he throws – no wait! He was only bluffing, folks! Tough luck McDougall, no match for Hooper!"

Whatever conversation had been said on the field had surely inspired the Gryffindor team. Their energy had drastically improved and they began sinking in goals one, two, three in a row. The excitement of their sudden wave of determination was addicting and Marlene felt herself slowly falling victim to the adrenaline coursing through the stands.

There was a collaborative intake of breath as a sudden blur of red and yellow captured the eyes of the audience at the corner of the field.

"Kirke and Diggory have spotted the snitch!" the announcer cried. The glittering gold was sparking at the end of the field right next to the Hufflepuff goal post and both seekers were in a race to reach it first.

"Oh no," Lily cried right before the announcer had the chance to voice exactly what Lily must have been thinking.

"With a score of 360 to 200 in favor of Hufflepuff, it looks as if Hufflepuff is bound to win despite whoever gets to the snitch first! Come on Gryffindor, you only need one more goal to win!"

That's when everything happened at once. Gryffindor needed one more goal, and provided that Kirke reached the snitch first, they would pull out ahead on the score board. Potter was bounding towards the goal post, quaffle in hand, Bert closing in behind him. The Hufflepuff beater, Johnson, had forcefully aimed a bludger at James' head. He hadn't seemed to notice, or care for that matter, and refused to dive out of the path of the incoming assailant. He raised his arms to shoot the quaffle into the goal post. The quaffle was intercepted by Bert, who had nearly dived off his broom to snatch it from its pathway.

A sickening crunch sounded throughout the stadium as the bludger originally aimed for James crashed into Bert's chest and he was flung backwards.

And the flash of red and yellow halted as a streak of red soared upwards, a glittering gold object sparkling in the sunlight, clasped in the hands of the Gryffindor seeker, Dennis Kirke.

"HUFFLEPUFF WINS 360 to 350!"

The crowds erupted into cheers with the exception of the Gryffindor fan section. It was blatantly obvious from the reactions of the Gryffindor team that they were less than impressed by the turn of events.

"Well tonight's going to be tense," Peter was saying to Remus. Their conversation gave off the impression that the two boys seemed apprehensive of their impending contact with their friends.

"Oh," Marlene's face had paled slightly as her eyes focused on the more imminent matter occupying her mind. She was vaguely paying attention to the others around her but she was more intent to focus on the state of Bert. He had luckily managed to grab a hold of his broom after the blow of the bludger, but he was descending rather awkwardly, clutching at his side, while Madam Pomfrey rushed out onto the field below him.

"I need to go," she said quickly to the others and she hurriedly pushed her way down the stands towards the field.

The Hufflepuff team had gathered in a crowd surrounding each other, whooping loudly. The Hufflepuff fans from the stands were slowly trickling down onto the pitch to join their celebration. Once Bert had landed he was quickly enveloped by a large group of people which made it nearly impossible for Madam Pomfrey to assess the damages.

Marlene hurried over, pushing through the students that were getting in her way, not even bothering to apologize. She barely even registered as she ran past the sulking Gryffindor team on their way to the change room; she only had one thought in her mind.

As she neared the growing crowd of cheering Hufflepuff's she caught a glimpse of Madam Pomfrey trying to pry Bert out of the grasp of the mosh of adoring fans. He happened to catch sight of Marlene amidst the chaos and he quickly pulled away from Madam Pomfrey and started pushing his way through the crowd towards her. Marlene couldn't help but notice he was still clutching his side and appeared to be in excruciating pain.

"We won!" he yelled to her from a couple of feet away. Marlene smiled despite the fact that this meant her team had lost.

"You should let Madam Pomfrey look at that," she said with concern as he finally got through to her.

"I will later," he said breathlessly. A brilliant grin had broken out across his face and his eyes were sparkling with excitement. "I have more important things to do first."

And before Marlene could utter another word he had released his hand from his side, reached out to encircle his hands around Marlene's waist and lifted her into a small spin. As he brought her back down he pulled her tighter into his embrace and crashed his lips into hers in a fiery first kiss.

* * *

><p>She had finally managed to convince him to let Madam Pomfrey assess his injury. He had reluctantly pulled away from her and allowed himself to be taken back to the hospital wing where he was readily joined by the rest of his team mates. Marlene did not opt to join them and insisted that she would visit with him when the excitement of the match had calmed down.<p>

By the time Marlene was ready to leave the field she had noticed that the stadium was nearly deserted. Even the Hufflepuff students that had crashed onto the pitch had slowly dissipated; no doubt to continue on the celebration in their common room. Marlene scanned around in search of Lily and Mary but they could not be seen. She assumed that they had already gone back to their own respective common room with the rest of their peers.

When she entered in through the portrait hole she was immediately met with an unbearably dreadful tension. Even if she had not attended the match it would have been painfully clear to her by the lack of enthusiastic chatter that their team had lost.

Lily and Mary were sitting in a corner by the window playing a game of muggle cards. Marlene began to make her way over to them when she caught sight of the boys. They were surrounding the fire place in complete silence. Peter and Remus looked like they would be happy elsewhere but nevertheless continued to support their friend's misery by sticking around. James and Sirius looked despondent. Marlene felt a small pang of pity as she observed the look on each of their faces.

James looked clearly more frustrated than anything. Marlene assumed it probably had to do with the fact that they had come so close to winning. A fact she felt almost guilty about as it was her boyfriend who had destroyed his efforts.

Boyfriend. The word still felt foreign to her and upon thinking it her eyes trailed automatically to Sirius.

Although clearly frustrated, he also looked defeated. He had been in such a foul mood the past couple of weeks and Remus's explanation earlier during the match about him going through some things suddenly floated into her mind. He definitely looked like he was elsewhere in the moment and she felt a sudden urge to comfort him.

She hesitated. She couldn't piece together the sudden overwhelming sensation she had to run over to him.

He must have sensed that she was looking at him as his eyes snapped up to meet hers. His expression didn't change but he also didn't seem quite as agitated to see her as he had in their Potions class the previous day.

Marlene smiled sympathetically at him and he looked away. Feeling slightly embarrassed that she had been caught she ignored her inner battle to speak with him and instead continued on her originally intended destination towards her friends.

"So?" Mary asked knowingly. Marlene assumed that they had probably witnessed the entire ordeal on the pitch. She didn't even try to hide it.

"He finally kissed me," she said blushingly.

"How was it?" Lily asked curiously. It appeared that they were playing the muggle game of 'go fish.'

Marlene contemplated for a moment. As much as she had enjoyed spending the last few weeks getting to know Bert better, she had been anticipating him making his first move. She had been progressively looking forward to it yet she couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed when it had. She didn't know how to express this to her friends and instead settled upon a slight shrug.

"It was okay I guess," she offered. Mary looked at her skeptically but Lily was smiling. Why was Lily smiling? Marlene wanted to wipe that smirk right off of her face.

"A first kiss shouldn't just be 'ok'," Mary said scandalized. She pouted as she handed over a pair of three's to Lily before slapping the rest of her cards down in defeat.

"I've never had a kiss before," Marlene mumbled with embarrassment. This had been her first. "I'm not quite sure I know what it should be like."

After a few more rounds of cards, Lily dominating each with victory, it was time to head down to the great hall for dinner. The Hufflepuff table was still alive with excitement when they entered the noisy room and surprisingly the Gryffindor table seemed to be in significantly better spirits with the exception of the Gryffindor Quidditch team who were still sulking to themselves. Marlene was quick to notice that James and Sirius had not joined the rest of their peers for dinner.

Bert wasn't in the hall either, Marlene presumed that he was probably still in the hospital ward and she mentally reminded herself that it would be wise to pay him a visit after dinner.

She relayed this to the girls after they had finished and the trio parted ways; Lily and Mary were planning to visit the library for a quick study session with Alice and Marlene would join them in the common room when she had returned from the hospital wing.

She felt her nerves getting the better of her as she neared the familiar doors leading into the infirmary, a quick flashback to the time she had spent there only a few short months ago flooded her memories as she pushed through the doors. Bert was propped up in one of the beds nearest to the entrance, skimming through an old looking textbook and scribbling some notes on the parchment beside him.

He glanced up at the sound of the creaking doors and a smile formed on his face as he recognized his visitor.

"Hey!" he said brightly. "I wasn't sure if you were going to visit."

"Of course I'd come visit you," she said with a slight flush rising to her cheeks. In fact, she had debated whether she would visit him or not.

"I'm sorry about earlier," he looked a little sheepish. "I had hoped I hadn't scared you off."

"What do you mean?" Marlene felt confused.

"Erhm," he hesitated while looking a little embarrassed. "The kiss I mean."

"Oh," Marlene felt her face growing hot as she instantly concluded that he had regretted his decision to do so. As if sensing what she was thinking his eyes grew wide and he became flustered.

"No no," he said hurriedly, "I rather enjoyed it I just – I didn't stop think that perhaps I was being a bit forward, doing it in front of such a large crowd and all. The adrenaline…"

He looked nervous and Marlene felt instantly relieved that she wasn't the only one feeling flustered.

"Um," she said quietly. She didn't quite know what to say. She was fighting an inner battle on whether or not she had, in fact, enjoyed it.

She moved closer to the bed and sat down into a chair beside him. Bert reached across and grabbed her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. The feeling felt more awkward to Marlene than it did comforting.

"Thanks for coming to visit me," he said happily.

Madam Pomfrey didn't agree, however, when she came bustling in a good ten minutes later. They had been chatting idly about nothing of importance when she hurried in to inform Marlene that Bert had had enough visitations for the day and needed his rest.

"He will be discharged tomorrow morning," she insisted when Bert had asked her for an exception, "you may visit him tomorrow all you like."

"Goodnight," Bert said dejectedly as Marlene stood to leave. She hesitated slightly and knew that with Madam Pomfrey's eyes burning into her that she was far too edgy to do anything that could remotely further her embarrassment. This is what she told herself as she waved goodbye instead but a large part of her had the overwhelming sense of relief that she had managed to avoid any more physical contact with him for the day.

The walk back to the common room seemed a lot longer than Marlene remembered it being in the past. Perhaps it was because she was left alone to dwell on the numerous thoughts floating around in her head and she couldn't overcome the overpowering amount of emotions that she seemed to be feeling.

She liked Bert. This much she had been aware since well before Christmas. The more that she had spent time with him in the past weeks talking and getting to know one another, the more she had realized that she looked forward to spending time with him. She knew that when they separated she had anticipated the next time they would see each other and whenever that time came she was always genuinely happy to see him.

Bert made her feel blissful; he was always polite, kind and thoughtful. He was smart, funny and as a bonus he was definitely easy on the eyes and her friends were approving of the relationship. There was no doubt that they were getting along very well with each other and Marlene couldn't see why she felt wrong about it all.

She had wanted him to kiss her but when he finally did she had felt a knot in the pit of her stomach and had instantly felt relieved when he had pulled away. Everything felt different now that he had finally taken the next step and Marlene was struggling to figure out why she suddenly wished that he hadn't.

Then there was Sirius. She scolded herself mentally for letting him enter her thoughts at all but she knew that he had been weighing heavily on her mind for the past while. Lily had insinuated that there was something going on between them. Marlene had felt sick at the thought.

But why? What was so wrong about Sirius Black? He was smart, funny, popular, extremely good looking and he was uncharacteristically brave, chivalrous and loyal. Not to mention that he had willingly assisted Marlene a couple of times with her studies without expecting anything in return. Sure he could be a conceited, pompous bully and more often than not he had too much of a carefree attitude that left Marlene doubting how serious he was about certain things.

There was definitely a mystery there. Lily had been right about one thing though; Sirius Black did not pay much attention to girls. This was definitely an odd characteristic for someone who so flawlessly attracted a sickening amount of attention from the opposite sex. It never seemed to faze him and Marlene struggled to come up with a single girl's name that he had ever communicated with outside of the classroom that had lasted longer than ten minutes.

Except for her.

Why was she having such a hard time deciphering Sirius? Why did she even care for that matter?

As she neared the common room after what seemed like an eternity she started to slowly wonder whether or not her apprehension towards Bert stemmed from an unconscious notion that she harbored feelings for Sirius Black. Had Lily been right?

"Bowtruckle," she said dully as she stared upwards at the portrait of the fat lady.

Lily was waiting for her in the common room. Marlene was relieved to discover that Sirius was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't even fathom the idea of seeing him while her mind entertained such thoughts of him. Mary had stayed behind in the library with Alice but both Marlene and Lily mused whether or not she had started up her infamous relationship with Davey Gudgeon again.

"He's not here," Lily said quietly when Marlene had scanned her head around the room with what she had thought had been inconspicuous.

"Sorry, who?" Marlene played dumb but Lily gave her a knowing look.

"I think you know who I'm talking about Marlene," she said simply. Lily was far too smart for her own good.

Marlene sighed. She wasn't sure if this was a conversation she was prepared to have but the inner battle with her thoughts was weighing heavy on her mind and Lily was, after all, her best friend.

"I don't know how I feel about him, okay?" Marlene didn't even offer a name but in truth, she didn't know which boy she was referring to.

"I'm pretty sure that he has feelings for you," Lily replied. She had been reading her novel but it was placed neatly on her lap and she was looking pointedly at Marlene.

"Is this a conversation we should be having in the common room?" Marlene glanced around. Despite the fact that nobody seemed to be within ear shot, there were still quite a large handful of people around them.

"I told you, he's not here right now," Lily confirmed that they were speaking about Black.

"How do you know?" Marlene asked hesitantly.

"I watched them leave after dinner. I suspect they are up to their usual, I'm pretty sure I heard Potter talking about Black needing to 'unwind' or something of the sort."

"And you didn't stop them?" Marlene smiled ruefully at Lily. As a prefect, Lily often strongly disagreed with the boy's pranks.

"Give me a bit more credit than that," Lily smiled.

Marlene didn't reply. She had focused her attention towards the window where the sun had long ago set and the twinkling stars were prominently displayed in the dark sky.

"If you don't have feelings for Bert," Lily continued, "then perhaps you should let him know."

"I don't know what I want," Marlene twisted her head to give Lily a pained look. Lily shrugged.

"I don't know Black very well but he obviously cares for you and I'm pretty sure you feel the same."

Marlene laughed doubtfully.

"Don't laugh," Lily was scowling. "I don't know how you can't possibly notice the way he looks at you in class."

"Where have you been the last couple of weeks?" Marlene asked incredulously. "Black has been nothing but nasty to me in Potions."

"He is probably just jealous," Lily shrugged. Thankfully, she did not continue to pry into the matter for which Marlene was utterly grateful. Her mind was a jumbled mess of her confusion and she was having a difficult time making sense of them on her own, let alone to Lily.

Mary and Alice arrived shortly after. It wasn't until the portrait hole swung open and the four familiar voices of the Marauders reached Marlene's ears that she hastily decided it was time for bed.

Lily gave her a knowing look as she bid them goodnight but Mary and Alice were too absorbed in their conversation about boys to pay much attention to her fluster. It seemed that Alice had begun dating their fellow sixth year Frank Longbottom and it was starting to get rather serious and this was something that Mary seemed expressively intersted in.

Marlene couldn't bring herself to look at the boys as she quickly made her way across the common room and up into her dorm.

She lay in bed for what seemed like hours; the other girls had made their way upstairs while Marlene remained silent behind her drawn curtains, pretending to be asleep. Sleep did not come easy for her. She tossed and turned, readjusted her pillow about a half dozen times and even threw the covers off when the heat seemed unbearably uncomfortable only to pull them back up quickly when the cool breeze from the slightly ajar window entered in through the crevices in her curtains.

No matter what she did she was unable to tear her thoughts away from the chaos that was keeping her preoccupied from sleep. Eventually, after it seemed as if the other girls were fast asleep, Marlene snuck quietly out of her bed, grabbed the book sitting on her dresser and down into the deserted common room.

The clock on the wall indicated that it was half past one in the morning.

The fire was still going, although it was starting to fade away and Marlene wasted no time curling up into the chair closest to it. She sat staring into the flickering flames for a few moments before opening up the book she had begun reading over the holidays and attempted to finish reading it.

Despite the fact that she was engrossed in the story, she was not oblivious to the creaking sounds of the staircase across the room. She glanced up but saw nothing. She continued to read until another sharp creak and a soft curse disturbed her thoughts again.

"I don't care if you're sneaking out," she said aimlessly. She didn't know why she had felt inclined to call out but she had been fairly certain that the boys were planning an afterhour's adventure.

Three boys confirmed her thoughts as they stepped off the landing leading up to the boy's dormitories. Marlene glanced up briefly and noted that Remus was not with them.

She forced herself to look away when her eyes landed on Sirius.

"Right then," James said nervously. "You never saw us."

They were quick to exit the portrait hole and Marlene threw her book to the ground in obvious frustration. She slumped back into the chair and returned her gaze to the fire.

Seeing him had confirmed what she had feared all evening.

She definitely had feelings for Sirius Black. Now she was even further from clearing her thoughts than she had been an hour earlier.

Curse Lily for being right.


	13. Part One: Chapter Thirteen

Sunday morning came far too quickly for Marlene. She couldn't remember what time she had finally fallen asleep but she had awoken at quarter to five in the morning when the portrait hole opened and the boys returned rather loudly from whatever they had been up to.

"A bit late to be getting in don't you think?" she said sleepily with slight agitation from her uncomfortable position in the chair she had awoken in.

"Says the girl who's still awake," James said simply.

"You woke me up," she huffed as she gathered up her book and made for the girls staircase. She was too tired to properly register the conversation and when she awoke a few hours later in the comfort of her bed it had become a foggy memory.

"I'm going to sleep a bit longer," she mumbled to Lily and Mary when they had pestered her into rolling out of bed. "I didn't sleep well last night."

Luckily Lily must have understood and did not continue to press the matter in her usual fashion. Mary was famous for sleeping in through breakfast so she was happy to oblige and return the favor.

"Don't sleep in too much or you'll miss lunch too," Lily said with humor. Marlene resisted throwing her pillow at their retreating figures out the door.

When she awoke later the clock registered that it was ten in the morning and she had indeed missed breakfast. She didn't feel hungry so she wasn't panicked by this fact. She lay in bed for an additional twenty minutes or so before finally dragging herself out to shower.

Lily and Mary were not in the common room when she sauntered down. She wasn't surprised to see that there were only a handful of students in the chairs; most of them were seventh years most likely studying extra hours in preparation for their upcoming N.E.W.T.s. A notice on the billboard caught her eye and she casually walked over to it for a better look.

It was a Hogsmeade notice for Valentine's Day. Marlene's stomach sank a bit as she realized what this meant for her. Bert was due to be discharged from the hospital wing, if he hadn't already, and she was not going to be able to avoid the situation forever. Would she want to go with him? She really didn't feel like she had much time to figure things out.

After she realized that she still had a bit of time before lunch she decided to head to the library in search of her friends. The library was fairly empty so it made it quite easy for Marlene to determine that the girls had not opted for an extra study session and she was left puzzled as to where they might have disappeared to.

Marlene began wandering the nearly empty corridors in contemplative silence. She rather enjoyed the peaceful walk; it allowed her to continue piecing together what exactly her next move ought to be. She passed through a corridor with magnificent windows that overlooked the courtyard and for the first time of the day she was actually drawn to admire the weather outside.

The sun was shining brightly and even though there was a thin blanket of snow on the ground, many of the students that were enjoying the warm day were only wearing thin sweaters. There were many students lounging by the great lake, some were out for a walk and a few even seemed engaged in the muggle tradition of building a snowman. Of course, upon closer inspection, the snowman began coming to life and Marlene watched in amusement as two of them began dueling with the tree branches they had been provided.

Lily's red hair was not hard to miss. Marlene found them rather easily as they had taken up a spot under a large oak tree by the great lake. It had become a favorite spot for the girls last spring and quite often they had spent their afternoon and evenings studying and reading under its shade.

"I saved you a muffin," Mary offered a blueberry muffin from her book bag when Marlene had joined them. Marlene politely thanked her for her kindness but still didn't feel all that hungry. She picked at the muffin top a bit, taking a few bites before giving up completely and tossing the remnants into her pocket.

"Did you see the notice they posted this morning?" Mary asked suggestively and Marlene felt another wave of nausea hit her. She attempted to smile feebly which was not missed.

"Did I miss something?" Mary asked questioningly, her brows had creased slightly.

"Um," Marlene started before divulging the information she had provided with Lily the night before, strategically leaving out anything that pertained to Black.

"It's Black, isn't it?" Mary was quick to conclude.

Marlene sighed heavily. Was she that obvious? It seemed as though her best friends had picked up on her feelings long before the thought had even crossed her mind and she couldn't help but feel annoyed at her obviousness.

She decided to voice this to them.

"I wouldn't say you're being obvious," Lily stated blatantly. Mary nodded in agreement. "We just know you really well and you should see the way you two interact with each other."

"What does that mean?" Marlene felt helpless.

"It means that the two of you would make a very cute couple," Mary added brightly. Marlene groaned.

"Well it doesn't matter anyways," she slumped against the large trunk of the tree. She started twirling a piece of her hair between her fingers in contemplation. "I'll admit that I have feelings for him but it doesn't change anything."

"What do you mean, it doesn't change anything?" Mary looked confused. "You're going to break up with Bert aren't you?"

Marlene shrugged her shoulders. She still hadn't worked that much out yet.

"You can't possibly keep leading him on if you don't like him," Mary said with sheer shock.

"I do like him," Marlene said with slight annoyance. She couldn't tell if she was lying or not.

"Just be careful," Lily added wisely. "These situations never end well."

Marlene decided on the less intelligent way of handling her situation. She decided to ignore it and hope for the best. At dinner that evening she quickly hurried into the hall and sat with her back to the Hufflepuff table so as to avoid Bert. She was even lucky enough to finish her supper quickly and hurried out of the great hall before he had had the chance to approach her.

"If he asks can you please just make some excuse?" Marlene pleaded quietly in between a mouthful of mashed potatoes. Lily didn't look overly impressed but she had agreed to this request.

She must have looked like a bit of a disaster having only spent about ten minutes shoveling down the food on her plate. Her stride could have been easily confused for a slight jog as she dashed out of the hall and through the corridors into the safety of the common room.

She was even lucky enough to not run into the Gryffindor boys that evening either. Having decided that fate was not on her side this time she decided to leave nothing to chance and holed herself up in the dormitory for the rest of the evening, surrounded by a large pile of homework and textbooks.

"I am going to get this all done," she said with determination when Mary looked at the stack of books surrounding her bed. "I have no distractions tonight."

"Good for you," Lily said approvingly but even she seemed a bit dubious that Marlene was handling her situation properly.

Despite the amount of emotional stress that Marlene seemed to be experiencing, she was able to focus clearly on her assignments and had been quite proud at how much she had been able to accomplish. She hadn't quite managed to reach her goal of finishing everything but even Lily seemed impressed with how much she had actually managed to complete.

"I haven't even started this assignment," she admitted guiltily while looking over Marlene's Herbology essay. "I almost dare say it slipped my mind that Professor Sprout had even assigned this."

Even though Marlene had easily managed to avoid her predicament all day Sunday, she was faced with the daunting realization that Monday brought a whole new dilemma for her. Avoiding Bert at breakfast had been easy, he seemed completely absorbed in what appeared to be a last minute assignment or studying so he hadn't even tried to acknowledge when she had entered the great hall. He was still nose deep in his book when Marlene left for double potions but she was faced with an entirely new problem when she realized the empty seat next to Sirius was intended for her.

"Oh crap," she said sharply under her breath to Lily. She had forgotten they were assigned partners to each other.

Lily gave her a sympathetic look.

"You know I'd gladly trade partners if I could," Lily indicated to James who was sitting at the table in front of Sirius. He glanced up at the girls when they walked into the room and smiled at Lily before continuing on with his conversation with Black.

Marlene got the impression that Lily might only be half serious. The two of them had seemingly been doing really well at working with each other. James hadn't even asked her out once since they had been paired off with each other.

Lily gave James a small smile as she settled into the chair next to him and offered him a polite "Hello Potter."

Marlene took her seat next to Sirius. He didn't look up at her.

"Good morning," she muttered quietly. He replied with a simple nod.

They weren't able to avoid each other much longer and were quickly engaged in small chatter asking one another to pass ingredients or to continue stirring the potion while the other scribbled some notes. Marlene was happy that he had refrained from making any sort of harsh comments towards her potion making abilities and concluded that his previous attitude to her surely must have been from tension leading up to the Quidditch match.

Although, she still wasn't entirely sure he was over the fact that they had lost only two days ago.

Lily laughing interrupted Marlene's concentration. She glanced up to watch her friend interacting with a boy that, not so long ago, she wouldn't have been caught dead conversing with.

"I would have never thought of slicing it that way," James was saying with amusement. He was staring at Lily's precise cutting skills and Marlene noticed that she was straying from the written directions and instead dicing the sneezewort at a slight angle.

Lily seemed genuinely pleased at his praise to her potion making skills. A couple of months ago he would have been arrogantly trying to impress her. This Potter sitting in front of her seemed to have toned down the ego and was engaging in a polite and friendly conversation with her best friend. Lily seemed to be enjoying the exchange.

"Watch what you're doing McKinnon!" Sirius's voice snapped her back into reality and she realized that she had grabbed the scurvy grass instead of the lovage. Her hand was moving to dump the wrong ingredient into the cauldron.

"Oh," she cried at the realization of her mistake but it was too late to save a couple of the pieces that had slipped from her fingertips and into the bubbling mass below. She held her breath for a moment before the cauldron let out a groan and slowly churned into a brown mess.

"I'm so sorry," she said quickly to Sirius. She had been so used to his frustration during the last few classes that she was bracing herself for the storm that was sure to follow. In fact, she hadn't been paying attention this time so she truly did deserve a good scolding.

"It's no problem McKinnon," he cracked a bit of a smile. "It's just a potion."

Marlene felt dumbfounded. This was a completely different reaction than the one she had been expecting and it took a moment for her to realize that he wasn't angry with her over it.

"Oh okay," she finally replied. The damage had already been done to the potion; no matter what Sirius did to reconcile it he conceded that the potion was a flop. Professor Slughorn easily agreed with his disappointment when he walked by.

Bert was waiting for her outside of the potion classroom and he offered his trademark smile when she walked out. Marlene forced herself to return it but she could feel the knot in her stomach growing tighter.

The difference this time was that when she approached him he reached his hand out and entwined it with hers. She hadn't even thought of the possibility of this happening and hadn't prepared herself for it. She felt her face growing hot at the realization that every other student around them would suddenly know they were a couple. She was surely not getting out of this one easily.

She listened patiently to Bert talk about his N.E.W.T. preparation he had been busying himself with. She had even accepted his apology for his lack of attention on Sunday knowing full well that she had been avoiding him anyways. She pretended to understand and then she busied her thoughts into other things as he continued on about stuff she couldn't bring herself to focus on.

"I'll see you later," he said sweetly when they had reached the great hall. Marlene froze in a moment of panic as he leaned in towards her. Thinking quickly, she moved her head away from him and reached her arms up to squeeze him in a quick hug instead. When they pulled away he was smiling so she was fairly confident he hadn't noticed her aversion to the kiss.

"Nicely done," Mary laughed quietly when she had settled herself at the table.

"Sod off," Marlene snapped back and was rewarded with a string of giggles from the girls sitting across from her.

The rest of the week followed a similar fashion. Sirius was ignoring her; or perhaps he wasn't and Marlene had forgotten what life was like before Sirius Black had given her the time of day. She couldn't be certain other than the fact that he only spoke to her in Potions and seemed mostly indifferent when he did.

Bert continued to meet with her after class. She was able to avoid the Hogsmeade question but still hadn't managed to figure out what she wanted to do about her situation. Lily and Mary were constantly reminding her about it, asking every so often if she had made a decision.

"No," was her answer each time.

She had been lucky that he had immersed himself in N.E.W.T. pressures and didn't seem to have much time to spend with her other than the occasional walk between classes. For this, he was constantly apologizing. Marlene insisted to him that it was fine, secretly relieved that she could put it off for another day.

"Hey Evans," Marlene tensed up a bit. The girls were spending their Friday evening in the common room in a mix of studying, girl chat and muggle card games. She hadn't even noticed James approach their table. He had been on such a nice roll during the course of January, Marlene almost felt disappointed that he was going to put Lily into a foul mood at the beginning of their weekend.

"Yes Potter," Lily sounded civil. She didn't even seem fazed that James Potter was standing beside her.

"So it's my mom's birthday coming up and after all the stuff she's done for me and Sirius over the past year I really wanted to get her something special."

This was not what Marlene was expecting.

"Right," Lily said "you had mentioned that the other day."

Mary exchanged a curious glance with Marlene. Neither of them, apparently, was quite sure what was going on.

"Naturally, me being such an amazing son, I need to make sure that I get the perfect gift. She's really been into muggle stuff lately and I figured you might be able to assist Sirius and me with some ideas. We're planning on going on the next trip to Hogsmeade and I was hoping that if the three of you ladies were going you might be willing to stop into the muggle shop with us and point out a few things."

Lily seemed to contemplate his offer.

"Of course I won't steal you away from these lovely ladies," James winked at the other two girls. His natural charm was very becoming. "It'll only take a few minutes and you can even just jot down a few items on a list for me and I can look for them myself. I'd really appreciate the help Evans; I know you have a knack for these sorts of things."

"I'll see if I can think of a few things," Lily said politely. She started shuffling the deck of cards in front of her. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to go to the shop or not, it'll all depend on what plans we have going on during the day but I will let you know."

"Excellent," James said happily. "Thanks a bunch Evans!"

As he was walking off Lily turned her head over her shoulder and shouted out to him.

"It's not a date, Potter!"

"Of course not," he replied back with a magnificent smile and a generous laugh. When Lily turned back to the card game she had a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Impressive," Mary mused humorously. Lily didn't acknowledge this.

* * *

><p>Marlene had managed to avoid Bert for the weekend but by the time Monday morning rolled around, Lily was adamant that Marlene deal with the situation.<p>

"I understand that you want to avoid a conflict," she said avidly, "but this has gone on long enough and sooner or later someone is going to get seriously hurt. Plus you haven't addressed your feelings towards another unnamed individual and I really think you ought to consider that factor while you parade around as someone else's girlfriend."

"Lily!" Marlene said breathlessly. Her head scanned around the hallway to make sure that nobody had heard her.

"Let her deal with it," Mary sided with Marlene but she, too, looked apprehensive.

"Would you mind letting me deal with my own business?" Marlene felt herself growing agitated. She appreciated her friend's concern but the pressure was making her feel worse about the situation. Looking for their approval was a daunting task.

"As long as you actually deal with it," Lily replied back but agreed to drop the subject. They had been walking towards the great hall for breakfast and Marlene had already had the subject lingering at the foremost of her mind since the previous night. She had always been a bit of a procrastinator; her imminent breakup was just like the Muggle Studies essay that she had neglected to work on during the weekend.

She had been toying with the idea of breaking up with him after breakfast; she knew that he would be headed towards muggle studies which would give her plenty of opportunity to talk with him as she walked her way to Potions. She had been planning out exactly what she would say to him before she chickened out at the idea and decided that before classes was the least desirable timing she could have. After classes seemed more promising but she ran the risk that he would ask her to Hogsmeade during their walk to lunch in which case would leave her unprepared to do it on the spot.

Marlene tried her best to drag out breakfast as she contemplated the right course of action. She barely paid any attention to the conversation her friends were having and they seemed extremely willing to let her entertain her thoughts.

The boys joined them shortly and Marlene had barely even been aware that Sirius had sat next to her.

She was vaguely snapped out of her thoughts when he waved his hand in front of her face.

"What?" she said distantly but she failed to listen to what his reply was.

"What's with McKinnon this morning?" she could hear James saying in the distance but she didn't care too much about the conversation that followed. She stabbed at the eggs on her plate, feeling no appetite to consume them and allowed her fork to absently swirl the pieces around.

She was only brought out of her reverie as the sound of the daily mail rushed into the great hall. A few dozen owls swooped around the room with their respective packages, dropping the parcels and whirring past student's heads in their head to exit.

A brown envelope dropped in front of her and landed atop of her battered eggs. The movement startled Marlene momentarily and she could feel herself jump back slightly as the brown owl buzzed past her, knocking her glass of orange juice over; the liquid immediately pouring down the edge of the table into her lap.

"Bloody owl!" she cried out while flinging herself to the side to avoid the stream of juice running off the side of the table and bumping Sirius in the process. "Sorry Black."

Lily had reached over with some napkins and attempted to mop up the puddle that had accumulated on the table and bench. Marlene was too busy wiping the spill from her uniform to pay much attention to anything else.

"They seem a bit frantic today don't they?" Mary mused quietly. She quickly engaged Peter back into the conversation they had been previously having.

Marlene's eyes focused back on her letter and she quickly threw down the soiled napkin to turn over the brown envelope. An elegant scrawl with her name embodied the front in handwriting she didn't recognize.

"Thought it might be from my mum," she said with disappointment. She hadn't heard from her parents in a few weeks and had been looking forward to hearing more about the upcoming nuptials of her cousin.

"I still haven't heard any more details about the wedding either," Lily said from beside her as if she had been reading her mind. "I think Mum and Dad are trying to convince Petunia to change her mind about the date."

"Wedding?" James asked curiously. Lily, to everyone's amazement, began filling him in on the details.

Marlene's attention to their conversation wore out quickly as she ripped the corners from the envelope and pulled out the neatly folded parchment from within. Her friend's animated conversation around her buzzed in her ears like a soft humming but their words lost meaning as she allowed her attention to focus completely on the letter in her hands.

He fingers trembled slightly as she attempted to hold the parchment in her grasp. She hadn't made it far down the letter before the neat and elegant scrawl of emerald ink began to lose focus and become a blur in front of her.

_Dear Miss McKinnon,_

_We regret to inform you of the unspeakable attack of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named that occurred in the early hours of the morning in the district of North Hampton. It is with our deepest condolences to inform you that both David McKinnon and Molly McKinnon of 146 Esterley Road were victims to the attack and pronounced dead on the scene by arriving Ministry officials. We ask that you meet immediately with your Headmaster to seek further information pertaining to the next steps going forward. _

Marlene couldn't read any further. There was a list of contacts below but the names didn't seem to matter much in the context of things. She had stayed quiet, she was aware that her friends were oblivious to her and she felt as if time had momentarily stopped. The seconds felt like an hour as she re-read through the letter in utmost disbelief.

"Oh that poor girl," she could hear Mary saying. A few frantic cries had rang out across the great hall; Marlene was able to register that much. Mary's focus had been shifted to Remus to look at a girl from the Ravenclaw table that had fallen to the floor in her despair.

"Marlene!" Sirius said disdainfully from beside her. She supposed that he had glanced over her shoulder at the parchment and perhaps was already aware of what was written on it. She didn't care much.

She couldn't speak. Her hands finally gave out and she dropped the letter back into the pile of eggs below her. She numbly felt herself grasp for her book bag and clumsily push her way from the table. Her bag caught on the edge of the bench and she could hear a couple of her text books fall and scatter the floor.

Lily was looking at her strangely. She appeared to be confused why Marlene was in such a hurry.

"What's the matter with you?" her lips were moving but Marlene could barely hear the words amongst the bitter cries echoing out from across the great hall. Marlene stumbled backwards and felt her elbow jab into someone still sitting as she whirled on her feet and attempted to flee.

"Marlene!" someone was yelling now but she didn't stop to connect who the voice belonged to. Very quickly she was running, pushing through various students that had begun exiting the hall. She was rough in her haste to exit. She could barely breathe and the mass of students seemed to be extracting all the oxygen from around her.

She broke out in a run, not entirely sure where her feet were taking her. Her eyes began to well with tears; the salty blobs of moisture made it nearly impossible for Marlene to focus on where she was headed. Somehow she managed to find the girls lavatory and pushed through the door into the empty room behind it.

She ran straight through the ghost of Moaning Myrtle as she flung her book bag to the ground, its contents scattering outwards, and felt herself sink down underneath one of the leaking taps into a puddle of water on the floor.

"That is completely rude," Myrtle was sniffling. Marlene grabbed one of her textbooks and chucked it at her in complete rage.

"NOBODY ASKED FOR YOUR OPINION!" she was screaming loudly. Her textbook flew straight through the ghost and smashed hard against the brick wall behind her. Myrtle began whining hysterically as she flushed herself into one of the toilets. A large splash ensued followed by an eerie silence.

Quite quickly Marlene broke out into a distress of sobs. She could barely focus on anything else; the cold puddle of water underneath her, the leaking tap above her head, the sound of running water and the noise of the hallway chatter outside the bathroom door were just a buzz of unrecognizable sounds, foreign to her ears.

Suddenly a pair of arms had wrapped around her and had forced her into a firm embrace. Marlene shoved her head into the chest of an unfamiliar male as he held her strongly uttering words of comfort to her that she could not hear. Her grip on his shirt tightened as she sobbed into it, his arms instinctively pulled her closer, pulling her from the puddle on the floor and into his lap. Marlene felt completely helpless as she allowed herself to completely lose herself in her despair; not quite caring who it was that she was allowing herself to be so vulnerable to.

"Marlene," the voice of Lily floated into her ears but the tears were so overwhelming that she could not see anything.

"You should just go to class," the male voice was saying, "I will make sure she's okay."

"She needs to see Professor Dumbledore," Lily was replying quietly but Marlene did not hear what else was said. There was silence apart from her desperate cries and her comforter had eased into a pattern of soft shushes and stroking her hair. Eventually after what seemed like hours Marlene felt as if she had completely depleted her energy supply. Her cries had slowly dissipated into soft, noiseless convulsions of her breathing and her eyelids, grown heavy, closed instinctively and allowed the darkness to take over her body.


	14. Part One: Chapter Fourteen

Marlene had awoken on the same damp and filthy floor of the second floor girl's lavatory, still entwined in the embrace of a pair of strong muscular arms. Her neck was slightly stiff from having rested at a less than ideal position but it was pressed firmly against the chest of her companion. She could feel his chest rising slowly with each breath and the sound of his heart beat was soft and soothing to her. She counted the beats silently in her head for a few moments before opening her eyes and lifting her gaze upwards.

Sirius was leaning against the wall behind him. His eyes were closed and he seemed to be at ease in what she could only assume was the most uncomfortable position possible. She allowed herself to stay curled in his lap as she rested her head back against his chest.

"Hey," he said quietly. Marlene felt her lip tremble slightly but she did not open her mouth to reply. She felt his hand reach up to stroke her hair once more in a comforting gesture and she felt herself pull him closer at his touch.

"I'm so sorry Marlene," he continued. A new wave of realization for what he was referring to brought fresh tears to her eyes. She felt her vision go momentarily blurry as the tears pooled but she refused to allow herself to lose control over her emotions again. The task seemed relentlessly unmanageable for her even if she wanted too as she was completely depleted of strength.

"Thanks," she finally managed to choke out. His grip on her tightened and she allowed herself to feel appreciative of the comfort he was trying to provide her. His hold was warm and welcoming and Marlene felt no desire to pull away but she knew that they had been hiding away in the bathroom for an immeasurable amount of time and she would need to face reality sooner rather than later.

"There's no rush," he said soothingly as if knowing what was going on in her thoughts. "I'm sure Lily has told Professor McGonagall where you are and they'll be expecting you when you're ready."

"I'm never going to be ready," Marlene managed to reply almost bitterly. Sirius gave her an empathetic squeeze. It appeared that he did not know how to respond to her.

"How long have we been in here?" she finally asked him once the silence had finally gotten to her. She pulled away from him slightly to look up into his face and noticed that he looked extremely tired.

"Quite a few hours I imagine," he said simply. "Classes are probably ending shortly."

"You didn't need to stay with me this whole time!" She felt guilty that, because of her, he had missed an entire day of school.

"Don't think for a minute that that nonsense is more important than your well-being," he looked alarmed that she had even suggested it. She felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude as she recognized his genuine concern.

"I don't want to face everyone," she didn't really know who 'everyone' was. Surely she would be fine with seeing her friends but even at the thought of Lily and Mary hovering over her shoulder, asking her if she was alright, their heightened emotions triggering a reprise in her emotions made her feel a wave of nausea flood over her. It was bad enough that Sirius had witnessed her in her weakest moment; she dreaded the thought of living it all over again amongst the rest of her peers.

He nodded his head in understanding. For a brief moment their eyes connected and she could detect a trace of pity in them before he looked away guiltily. "If we hurry we should be able to get there before classes let out."

Leaving the bathroom was a much harder task than Marlene had bargained for. Standing from the floor where they had been positioned for hours suddenly made Marlene aware of how uncomfortable she had been. Her entire body was aching and she concluded that part of it was in fact due to the extreme mental exhaustion that she had endured.

Sirius stood first and offered his hands to help steady her to her feet. She stumbled a bit as she realized that her leg was asleep but his steady grasp prevented her from tumbling over.

"Are you ready?" he asked timidly and Marlene glanced over towards the mirror on the long wall quickly to survey the damage. Her eyes were severely red and swollen; it was clearly evident that she had been crying hard for hours. Her hair was slightly disarrayed from the originally neat plaited bun she had been sporting earlier in the day and her uniform was slightly wrinkled.

Marlene turned away from the hollowed girl staring back at her and nodded slightly to Sirius. He helped guide her out into the deserted corridor where she was thankful to see that classes had, in fact, not yet been released for the day.

The walk was slow and quiet. Marlene hadn't any idea where they were headed as she had never visited the Headmasters office before. She wasn't entirely sure that that was where they were headed but she was too exhausted to ask him. Instead, she allowed him to direct her to an unfamiliar part of the castle and vaguely listened as he offered some sort of password to an inanimate gargoyle statue that she had never noticed before.

"I suppose I've been here recently," he said sheepishly even though she hadn't bothered to ask. The statue had sprung to life and revealed a long spiraling staircase upwards. Sirius indicated for her to proceed forward and followed closely behind as she made her way up the stone stairs.

They were standing in front of a large oak door. Sirius stepped ahead of her and knocked loudly. She was barely paying attention when they were ushered in, the large door closing loudly behind her. Her focus immediately set on the intricate display of portraits surrounding the tall and magnificent room. Dumbledore's office was quite breathtaking and Marlene was shameful to admit that, under different circumstances, she would have been fascinated to spend hours observing its brilliance.

"Ahh Miss McKinnon," she could hear him say quietly. There was a tone of empathy lining his voice. "My deepest condolences for your loss."

Marlene lost focus again. She was too intrigued with a portrait of a large man snoozing in a red velvet armrest to pay much attention to the conversation that Sirius was having with their headmaster.

"Marlene," Sirius tapped her shoulder lightly a few times before she blinked from her gaze at the portrait and turned her attention to look at his face. He looked sad and a momentary irritation flared up in the pit of her stomach before she was able to remind herself that he had been nothing but helpful. Still, his pity was a good reminder of exactly how she was going to be treated by everyone else she came into contact with.

"What?" she asked a little ruder than she had intended. She didn't bother to apologize but Sirius looked unfazed.

"Your Uncle Tom is waiting for you; Professor Dumbledore would like you to meet him tonight if you're ready to leave."

"Now?" she asked incredulously.

"Of course," Professor Dumbledore added softly, "should you need to collect any belongings or take care of any unfinished business before your departure you are welcome to do that before you leave."

"No," she said quickly. She did not feel like facing her friends. "I don't need to do anything before I go."

"Very well," he said in reply. He moved towards the large fireplace behind his desk and pulled out a satchel of what appeared to be floo powder.

Marlene turned to face Sirius. He was looking at her with the same sad expression. His hand reached out as if to touch her but he quickly pulled it back and brushed a strand of hair from his eyes instead. She was unable to say anything to him but she hoped that he understood how much she had appreciated all that he had done for her.

"If you will Miss McKinnon," Professor Dumbledore offered her the bag. She grabbed a pinch and for a moment the thought crossed her mind to take her home. Reminding herself that she wasn't going home brought another wave of distraught and she couldn't help the tears cascading from her eyes as the vision of Dumbledore's office whirled away and she was transported away in a haze of green smoke.

* * *

><p>"You're welcome to stay a couple of extra days if you like," Uncle Tom's voice floated into Marlene's thoughts. February was much colder in Godrics Hollow than Marlene was used to back at her parent's house; it hadn't stopped snowing since she had arrived and not once had she seen the sun peak through the massive grey overcast. On this particular day she had been sitting on the ledge of the bay window staring out into the empty street and watching the snowflakes fall gracefully from the sky.<p>

"I think I'm ready to go back," she said softly. She looked over at her Uncle Tom. He had seemed to have aged a few years in only the few months since she had last seen him. He looked tired; the dark circles under his eyes seemed to be permanently etched into his face. He half smiled at her which emphasized the soft wrinkles that had formed along his brow line.

"Are you sure?" he asked hesitantly. It was not in his nature to be overbearing but Marlene knew that he was new to parenting and was trying to make the best of their situation. She nodded.

Marlene had been indifferent at the time when Tom had explained that he had been given guardianship of her until her seventeenth birthday. She only had a few months of being underage left anyways so it hadn't mattered much to her. It was a harder adjustment to step inside her parent's empty house, lamps smashed to the floor in a thousand fragmented shards of porcelain, scorch marks adorned on the wall leading up the stairs. Pictures were smashed, hanging crookedly from the staircase or scattered on the floor. She had looked longingly at a few of them before the emotions had gotten the best of her and she forced herself back outside into the front yard.

There were a few curious neighbors nosy enough to approach her but she had ignored them dutifully and allowed her Uncle Tom to insist that the family wished to be left alone in their period of grief. She had learned that her parent's deaths had been passed off as a break and enter gone wrong so that surrounding muggles wouldn't grow suspicious.

The funeral had been short and simple. She had discovered after she had left Hogwarts that her parents had been killed due to their affiliation with the Order of the Pheonix. The name had sounded familiar to her and only when the first letter from Sirius had arrived did she connect the movement as the one he had been referring to only a few weeks prior.

Lily and Mary had offered to come but she had respectively declined their proposal.

"Another letter arrived for you this morning," Uncle Tom's voice floated back into her head. He was handing her an envelope and with a quick turn she had recognized the handwriting to be Sirius's.

He had been extremely thoughtful enough to owl her a few times during the weeks since she had left him standing in Dumbledore's office. She had never been able to bring herself to reply to him but instead he wrote again, never looking for an answer as to why she hadn't. Mostly his letters were filled with miscellaneous nonsense; Lily had taken up the task of informing her of full details on assignments and readings but Sirius had taken the time to fill her in on all the misgivings of their latest adventures and pranks. She assumed it was his attempt at cheering her up but she knew that he was withholding the really good stories, the ones she wasn't privy too under their marauder code.

Bert had only tried sending her the one letter. It had been very short and simple; expressing his sympathy and offering his support to her. She hadn't even given the letter much thought when she skimmed over it and she refused to allow herself to feel guilty for her ignorance on the subject. She was in no mood to deal with that situation.

She had been avoiding school for nearly a month and she was beginning to miss the familiarity that Hogwarts had to it. While Uncle Tom was her family, Hogwarts was more of a home than the unfamiliar house she had moved into. He had tried to make her feel welcome but she was realizing quickly that she would never quite get used to it being hers. She was also becoming increasingly aware of the insurmountable homework she was falling behind on as Lily's letters had been arriving daily for the past week with more assignments.

"Dumbledore is expecting you tonight," Uncle Tom said after she had explained this to him, strategically leaving out the bits that suggested she felt out of place in his house. When it was time to leave she had thanked him for everything, given him a firm hug goodbye and with a "see you in the summer" she was once again engulfed by the familiarity of floo powder as she headed back to the only place that felt like home.

* * *

><p>Mary was waiting for her when she arrived back to the castle. She had flung her arms around Marlene in a warm embrace almost before she had had a chance to catch a glimpse of her. The gesture was appreciated but Marlene felt inclined to pull away a little quicker than she originally would have. The thought of too much attention on her still made her feel uneasy.<p>

"I'm so glad to see you," Mary breathed and offered a sympathetic smile. Marlene realized that this was this first time they had seen each other in quite a few weeks. "Lily is doing prefect duties otherwise she would have been here too," Mary offered an explanation before Marlene had even registered that their red-headed friend was not among them.

"That's alright," Marlene said truthfully. She didn't mind Lily's commitment to her prefect obligations, as she knew how proud Lily had been when she had received her badge back before fifth year. It also provided her with a sense of normalcy; the more things that continued on ordinarily, the less attention Marlene felt was focused on feeling sorry for herself.

The girls began walking back towards the common room. It was apparent that it was nearly curfew and Marlene realized that she hadn't even bothered to check the time when leaving her uncle's house in Godric's Hollow. They walked past a large window and the grounds were illuminated by a prominent moon. She was happy to discover that it was, for once, not snowing.

"Bert's been looking for you, you know," Mary said quietly. She seemed apprehensive about bringing up the subject but Marlene was surprisingly glad for the distraction for once.

"I suppose I've been putting it off long enough," Marlene replied. She had regretted not doing it sooner but had tried hard not to dwell on it too much while she had been away. "He wrote to me while I was gone, I suppose it would have been politically correct of me to do it then but it just didn't seem right to do it by owl, you know?"

Mary laughed bitterly and Marlene got the sense that she had touched a nerve.

"Whatever did happen between you and Davey?" The subject had been long avoided and Marlene was surprised at herself for bringing it up.

Mary looked startled at the question.

Marlene didn't feel guilty asking; they had been friends long enough that she felt comfortable to ask prying questions into her personal life. Out of respect – and dislike of the Ravenclaw boy in question – she and Lily had dropped the subject, expecting that Mary would eventually share. However, as the months had passed and Mary's lips had remained sealed, Marlene became genuinely curious. It did help as a distraction from her problems and she was shameless to admit to herself that, at the cost of her friends comfort, she was going to enquire.

"He broke up with me by owl," she grinned at the irony. Marlene couldn't help but laugh a little.

"I'm sorry," she said quickly, "I shouldn't laugh."

"It's fine." Mary continued, waving her hand out to dismiss her friend's apology. "You and I both know that the relationship was a joke after the third time we broke up. I should have seen it coming. I've seen him with Bertha Jorkins again, you know. I don't doubt that they started seeing each other long before he sent me that letter."

"Coward," Marlene shook her head. It put a bit of her cowardice into perspective and she knew that putting off her imminent breakup any longer was just doing more harm than good.

"Have you talked to Sirius lately?" Mary asked suddenly. Marlene instantly recalled the letters he had written to her but did not divulge the information to her friend.

"Not really," she chose her words carefully. Even though he had written to her, she had not actually written back. Mary seemed to accept the answer though and did not challenge her.

They had reached the portrait hole and Marlene finally felt the nervous flutter in her stomach. Mary gave her a reassuring smile before issuing the password. She was doubtful that Mary could possibly understand how little she looked forward to this moment but didn't have long to dwell on it as the portrait of the fat lady swung open and revealed the entrance into the common room.

It was fairly quiet; most of the students were congregated around the circular tables, studying.

Her eyes settled instantly on the familiar figure slouched comfortably in one of the armchairs by the fire. His eyes were alive, illuminated by the blaze beside him, and he was laughing about something with good humor. His dark brown hair fell elegantly into his face; his face twisted into a large grin as James, sitting across from him, energetically continued a conversation she couldn't quite hear.

The boys were clearly having a good time. The books around them were unopened that indicated they had not been busy studying and Marlene was quick to notice that Remus was not with them. She reminded herself that Lily had been busy with prefect duties and assumed that he was probably with her.

Marlene felt like her feet had become stone. She felt unable to move any further, almost afraid of what to do. Her eyes looked towards the girl's staircase and wondered briefly if she could make it without being detected.

He had already seen her though; his eyes had flickered over in the direction of the entrance and upon seeing her, his grin wavered slightly. James and Peter turned around to look at her as if he had said something but his mouth had not opened.

"McKinnon!" James called over. She felt obligated to smile meekly in return to his acknowledgement and offered a small wave.

"I'm feeling extremely tired," she muttered quickly to Mary. She wasn't completely lying, she hadn't been sleeping very well lately and the long day accompanied by her lack of enthusiasm to putting on a charade in front of her friends was too much for her to bear. Seeing Sirius staring at her brought an old familiar fluttering feeling she hadn't experienced in a while and the memory of the last time they had been together drifted into her thoughts. She was determined not to let her nerves get the best of her so she turned towards the girl's staircase and quickly made her way up to her shared dormitory.

Luckily it was empty. She had been relieved that Mary had neglected to join her and she relished the time sorting through her school trunk, organizing her text books and clothes before finally throwing on a part of loose sweat pants and a tank top and crawling into her bed.

Although she hadn't been sleeping well at Uncle Tom's, sleep came much easier than she had anticipated. One of the reasons for her lack of slumber stemmed from the recurring nightmares she had been having regularly since she had been informed of her parent's deaths.

It was always the same dream; her parents waving happily to her from the platform of Kings Cross station, followed by sudden darkness and shrill screams echoing around her. She was suddenly in front of her house in the midst of a storm, the door slightly ajar. Marlene pushed through the door and into the front foyer. There were hooded figures in her house: smashing photos, destroying everything, setting fire to the house. She could hear her parents screaming, begging for their lives and only maniacal laughter following. One of the hooded figures turned on her and pointed a long crooked wand in her direction. Then Marlene was running down the deserted station platform, trying to run away, screaming her parents' names.

The first few nights it had happened she had actually awoken screaming in a pool of sweat. Uncle Tom had come rushing in to see what the matter was but he wasn't able to provide her any comfort. After about a week the nightmares continued to happen, but she had been able to wake herself without the screams. After waking, she had a difficult time falling back to sleep and she had spent the better part of the early hours of the morning staring out the window, observing the falling snow.

That night wasn't any exception. She awoke to look at the clock which indicated that it was nearing two in the morning. After attempting to close her eyes again the images were too fresh in her mind and she held back the urge to release her tears. She scrambled out of bed hastily; the other girls had their curtains drawn and were fast asleep. She quietly moved across the room to the bedroom door and slipped out into the hallway.

She was surprised to discover that she wasn't alone in the common room. She had made every effort to noiselessly move down the stairs but the creaking wood on the third step from the bottom landing gave her away.

"Can't sleep?"

She shouldn't have been startled to hear his voice. Of all people that it could've been it was bound to be Sirius. It was apparent from the pajama pants he was wearing that he hadn't been out plundering through the castle on one of his usual midnight strolls and he was casually curled up into the farthest end of the couch looking like his elegant self. The familiar fluttering had returned to her stomach as she watched him. He had his head resting in his hand, elbow propped on the arm of the couch and he had cocked his head to the side to look over at her.

She was suddenly self-conscious of what she was wearing and she instinctively drew her arms up to cross them over one another. She hesitated on whether being around him, alone, was a good idea but the belief that she wouldn't accomplish sleep upstairs drew her to conclude that her time was much better spent in his company.

"Not particularly, no," she said quietly and walked slowly over to the couch to settle into the opposite end. She couldn't fathom what was keeping him awake at this hour "How about you?"

"I don't sleep very well during the night," he laughed slightly. "When you spend as much time as I do out at night I suppose you become used to it."

"What about your posse?" she asked. He turned his face towards her and smiled.

"My posse?" his eyes were dancing with humor and Marlene felt herself flush. He was teasing her.

"You know perfectly well what I mean," she said with slight irritation. She pouted her lips slightly and his grin widened.

"They are sleeping and Remus is in the hospital wing."

"Is Remus okay?" she asked with concern.

"Oh he's fine," Sirius said dismissively. "Stomach flu or something like that I think."

"That's…" she trailed off not quite sure what she wanted to say. "Unfortunate."

She shivered unintentionally as the warmth of the fire hadn't quite reached her yet and her bare arms were exposed to the chilly air of the room.

"Are you cold?" Sirius asked with concern.

"A little," she laughed quietly. "I suppose I'm not really dressed for the time of year."

"Come here," he patted the space beside him and indicated for her to move over.

She hesitated, knowing full well that her feelings for him prevented her from thinking clearly. The thought of being close to Sirius was overwhelming though and she knew that she would like nothing more than to be so near. Of course they had been close before. Only a few weeks ago they had shared what could have been considered an extremely intimate embrace in the girl's lavatory for the better part of a day. She knew better though, there was nothing but platonic intentions behind that interaction and it hadn't even crossed her mind until now that under different circumstances, she would have been very flustered to being held like that by him.

"Stop being stubborn for once McKinnon," he said playfully and raised his brows at her. "You're cold, come here and let me help warm you up. I'm practically on fire over here."

Against her better judgment, she pushed herself over to the space beside him and felt his arms pull her into a familiar embrace. Her back was leaning against his chest as his arms wrapped around her shoulders and she leaned her head back to rest against his shoulder blade. Sirius instinctively rested his chin on the top of her head.

He wasn't kidding, he was unmistakably warm. She was thankful that she had decided to listen to him and she was even more overcome with a sense of satisfaction that he was in such close proximity to him that if she wanted to, she could have lent up and kissed him.

She had to remind herself that she needed to subdue her desire for such actions. Still, being so close to the boy that she had strongly developed feelings for left her feeling weak and helpless in his presence. She tried harder to focus on her painted toe nails in an attempt to distract herself from her thoughts of him.

After failing miserably to think of anything but Sirius, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to listen to the steady beat of his heart and his short, uneven breathing. His heart was beating slightly faster than the last time she had listened to it, almost as if he had been moving quickly. She reached her hand up and clasped it around his arm.

"I've been having these nightmares," she finally broke the silence. She was suddenly feeling very willing to talk and Sirius made a noise of acknowledgement as if intending for her to continue.

"Ever since … you know" she couldn't bring herself to speak of her parent's death out loud. Sirius gave her a reassuring squeeze and she continued. "I wake up every night and remember that it was only a dream, but then I remember that really, in a sense, it did actually happen whether or not the details of my nightmare are an accurate depiction of the night or not. I can't seem to stop thinking about it and I know that it isn't healthy to continue dwelling on it but it feels so … real, like I was standing there watching these monsters murder them and I just stand there, unable to do anything."

"There was nothing you could do," he said softly into her ear. She shivered slightly and his arms instinctively closed tighter around her.

"I know that but these dreams are so unforgiving and then I wake up and I'm feeling completely helpless. It's all I can concentrate on. I spent the last few weeks trying to distract myself from them by watching the stars – something I used to do as a kid, but the fog was so darn heavy that you could never see a single thing." Marlene let out a deep breath she didn't know she was holding and shifted her body slightly so she was laying on her side. She nestled her head back into Sirius's chest and continued to admire the familiar pattern of his beating heart that she had grown accustomed to in the previous five minutes. "I had sort of hoped that they would stop once I was back here but it seems that isn't the case and here I am."

"I used to have lots of nightmares when I was a kid," Sirius said after a few minutes of silence. "I can't quite relate to your situation as my parents weren't…" he hesitated on the word but decidedly skipped it and continued on. "The Black family is notorious for their devoted interests into dark magic and power. I spent my whole life growing up in a house that literally screams the epitome of nightmare. My mum is a piece of work; she wouldn't hesitate to use an unforgivable curse if you so much as looked at her the wrong way. Once, Regulus and I were playing inside the house and he had become fascinated with this odd, mangled, shriveled head she had on top of the bureau in her boudoir. Regulus knew the rules; you never go into her room, let alone touch anything. He ended up dropping it on the floor by accident and the stupid thing wailed so loudly that it shattered the mirror. He was only a little boy and the look on her face when she walked indicated to me that he was in for a full night of punishment. I took the blame for it naturally but she saw past it. We both ended up castigated for it, she seemed to enjoy every minute that she used the cruicatus curse on us…"

Marlene lifted her head from his body and propped herself onto her elbows against his chest so that she could get a better look at him. His face was scrunched up in obvious dislike of the memory but she appreciated being able to see past the façade he had created for himself. This was the real Sirius; his raw, bitter emotions were tangible and endearing as if it could easily match the elegant, sophisticated charm he usually emitted.

"Sorry," he muttered apologetically, his gaze had shifted away from her in what appeared to be embarrassment. "I didn't mean to make this about me."

"Don't apologize," she breathed readily. "I wouldn't have ever guessed your family was like that."

In truth, Marlene didn't know much about the Black family except that they were a proud, pureblooded wizarding family that prided themselves on being highly respected, well-off members of the community. She knew that Sirius was the only Gryffindor - the lot of them had belonged to Slytherin house, including his younger brother Regulus. This much she knew from back in first year during the sorting. There had been some whispered surprise from a few peers ahead of her in line after he had been sorted and joined the Gryffindor table.

Black had always been charming. He paraded around the school with his friends with an arrogance that easily matched that of James Potter and for it, he was disliked by many and admired by many more. She had always supposed that the attitude stemmed from being born into an extremely wealthy family; arrogance and money were often tied together. She had never considered that it was a disguise to hide the real Sirius Black.

"Nobody does," he was smirking now, "or they don't care. The Potters were hesitant of me in the first year. I could see it in their eyes when James introduced me to them; they were judging me for my name. Over time they grew to love me the way that I had never known at home, how a parent should love a child unconditionally and for that I am eternally grateful to have them. I don't know where I'd be without them."

"Perhaps in Slytherin?" Marlene said jokingly. Sirius's hard demeanor had started to vanish and she could see a glimmer of amusement light up in his eyes.

"I'd probably be the worst Slytherin in the history of Hogwarts," he mused.

"I never thought I'd see the day when you could admit to being bad at something," she said with mock surprise. Sirius rewarded her with a genuine laugh.

"I said probably, but I always love a good challenge." He winked casually at her and she felt a blush creep to her cheeks. She had hoped he hadn't noticed it in the dim lighting but he was suddenly looking at her very intently and she felt herself becoming slightly flustered. She had quite easily forgotten about how nervous he usually made her feel; he had a knack about turning uncomfortable situations into comfortable ones. On the flip side, it seemed, he was just as good in the reverse.

"Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are when you blush like that?" his voice was soft and he held his gaze with her with intensity. Marlene cursed herself for blushing again but she was unable to prevent her body from reacting to his compliment.

"No I don't believe they have," she tried her best to pass it off with a slight laugh but he didn't look humored by it. His hand pulled away from where it had been resting around her and reached up towards her face instead. His fingers grabbed hold of a strand of the hair framing her face and slowly moved to tuck it behind her ear.

"Sirius…" she said quietly and with a bit of unintended edge to her voice.

"You rarely call me that, you know?" he was grinning now but his hand was still cupping her face and the look in his eyes hadn't wavered.

"Call you what?" she asked with confusion, she suddenly couldn't remember what she had said to him as she was too focused on his face and her fumbling emotions.

"Sirius," he said simply. "You always call me Black."

"Well it's your name isn't it?" she huffed "And come to think of it you always call me by my last name too."

"Yes, I suppose I do," he smiled at her and moved his hand back down to encircle her waist. His gaze dropped slightly and the intensity of the moment quickly dissipated. Marlene couldn't help the sudden disappointment she felt but she laid her head back down against his chest and returned her focus to his shallow breathing.

"Are you still dating Aubrey?" his question was like a sharp stab in her side. She couldn't be sure but she was positive she had flinched slightly upon hearing it. She was glad that her head was positioned so that he was unable to see her face because she could feel her eyes widen in shock.

"Erhm," she stumbled a bit. "I suppose technically, yes?"

Sirius's body tensed slightly but she wasn't entirely sure if it had been her imagination. He didn't say anything and Marlene, feeling brave, lifted her head again to look at him. He was looking up at the ceiling with a slight crease in his brow but still looked otherwise peaceful.

"It's been a bit complicated," she continued rambling but he didn't seem too interested in pursuing the conversation. She was happy that he hadn't made to move away from her but he did seem less interactive than he had only moments before. She couldn't help but feel hopeful that Lily had been right. Perhaps he was jealous and did have feelings for her after all.

Of course she wouldn't get to find out now and she mentally cursed at herself for not breaking things off with Bert when there had been ample opportunity in the past. A sudden flare of sickening realization hit her; she could have possibly ruined her chances completely with Sirius over this. That is, if she ever even had a chance to begin with.

"I should try to go back to sleep, tomorrow is going to be a long day," she said quickly. She was recognizing that she was running away from the situation, something she had apparently grown good at lately but she couldn't be bothered to care. Sirius looked surprised momentarily but she had already pulled herself from his grasp and was climbing off the couch.

"Marlene, wait," he had started but Marlene was suddenly too sick with nerves to know what he wanted to say.

"Sorry Sirius," she muttered quietly as she scrambled to her feet. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Marlene!" he groaned loudly at her as she dashed across the common room but she didn't bother to wait.


	15. Part One: Chapter Fifteen

"I'm so glad to finally see you!" Lily exclaimed brightly. She had pulled open the curtains around Marlene's bed and crawled up next to her to give her a firm hug. Although she was extremely tired from her lack of sleep the night previously, Marlene couldn't help but smile at the welcoming greeting.

"It's so early Lily!" she half joked but a glance towards the clock told her otherwise. She got ready quickly but wasn't quite able to hide the partial dark circles that lined her eyes. She supposed nobody would bother to question her on it though, and she resigned to giving a deep sigh after staring dejectedly in the mirror before joining the girls for breakfast.

The great hall was packed with students by the time they got there and she was relieved to find that hardly anyone paid attention to her as they entered through. Her eyes automatically scanned the Gryffindor table and with a sinking heart, she spotted Sirius conversing with Peter and James somewhere in the middle. He either hadn't noticed their entry or he wouldn't be bothered to acknowledge it. Either way, Marlene felt her stomach knot as she recalled her cowardly exit last night and regretted acting so childish and rude.

At the recollection of last night's memory, she instinctively averted her gaze towards the Hufflepuff table to find Bert. He was sitting with his friends and talking animatedly about something but had also not appeared to have noticed her.

They were already half way to a few empty seats when Marlene had spotted him. She made a quick decision and excused herself from her friends.

"There's something I need to do," she said with a submissive sigh. Her friends gave a knowing look and offered their encouragement before she turned away from them and headed in the opposite direction towards the other table. She hadn't actually met his friends yet but they clearly knew who she was. She witnessed one of them jab Bert in the side as she approached and he quickly looked up to meet her gaze.

"Marlene!" he said quickly and with much surprise. She couldn't register whether or not he was happy to see her and she imagined that, had the roles been reversed, she probably wouldn't be completely thrilled to see him either. She had, after all, ignored him for weeks.

"Hey," she said nervously. Her hands fidgeted nervously at her side as she tried to ignore the piercing gaze that his peers were administering her. "Can I borrow you for a moment to, uh, talk outside?"

"Sure," he replied and quickly excused himself from the table. She led him out of the great hall into the main entrance where only a few students were slowly trickling out and off to their classes.

"Did you just get back?" he asked when they were out of ear shot of the great hall's noise. "I wrote you once but I didn't hear back. I wasn't entirely sure when I'd see you again."

"I got back last night," she said without allowing herself to feel too guilty over his comment. "I'm sorry I didn't write you, I've been dealing with … a lot of stuff at the moment."

He nodded and moved closer towards her. She didn't miss the movement and she forced herself to take a quick step back from him.

"I need to talk to you," she said quickly. She could sense the look of surprise on his face and assumed that he had not missed her movement. "I think you're a great guy Bert and I really enjoyed getting to know you. Perhaps I've been a terrible person, leading you on all this time but I've just been so absorbed in my own world that I really didn't consider your feelings in all of this."

"Are you breaking up with me?" he interrupted her. She had momentarily felt annoyed that he hadn't let her finish but scolded herself inwardly for her selfishness.

"Yes," she didn't feel the need to elaborate any further. It was a completely honest answer to the question that he had asked her.

"Alright," he shrugged his shoulders at her and looked briefly confused before offering the smallest of smiles. "I really should have guessed. I just figured we were both busy you know, with N.E.W.T.s coming up and then, well, everything else. I just had hoped I was imagining it."

"I'm really sorry," Marlene offered an apologetic smile but Bert was already turning back towards the great hall.

"See you around Marlene."

The sense of relief wasn't nearly as satisfying as she had hoped it would be. She felt guilt ridden for how long she had dragged things out but he had surprisingly taken it rather well.

"He seemed to sense it was coming," she said to Mary and Lily when she had settled in beside them at the table. She helped herself to buttered toast and orange juice while she listened to her friend's praises of relief.

"Now I suppose you have other things to deal with," Mary wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and discreetly pointed her gaze towards the direction that Marlene knew Sirius to be sitting.

"Shhh!" she said quickly. Her head snapped around and she noticed with disdain that Sirius, James and Peter had already risen out of their seats and were walking in their direction. "Are you mad? He could hear you!"

Mary shrugged her shoulders apologetically but she didn't look all that remorseful. The boys didn't stop as they walked past them and Marlene felt relieved that Sirius hadn't singled her out. The girls hastily finished their breakfast and headed in the direction of their fellow classmates towards Charms.

* * *

><p>Classes were relatively uneventful for the remainder of the week, something Marlene was grateful for. She had been disdained to discover what toll a month's absence from classes could take on her studies and it left her little time to dwell on personal matters. Sirius hadn't attempted to speak with her but in all honesty he seemed quite preoccupied in his own matters. Marlene had vaguely noted that Remus had remained absent for quite a few days and in his absence the boys presence seemed to be sparse.<p>

It had actually been an observation made by Lily rather than her own and she didn't dwell on the thought long as she had been busy writing five separate essays she had fallen behind on. After she had grown tired of homework and opted to take a break her mind was able to focus more clearly on what Lily had been saying. The boys had been fairly absent, apart from classes, over the previous few days and as she looked around the common room they were nowhere to be seen.

Marlene was used to their constant disappearances though, and she did not think that it was any more unusual than normal. She was a little more surprised that it had been Lily to make the observation. Typically she did not dwell on the undertakings of the Marauders unless it directly impacted her well-being or infringed upon her prefect duties.

Remus finally returned from the hospital wing on Monday morning looking as if he had, indeed, had the stomach flu.

"Welcome back," he had said thoughtfully from the table beside her in Potions and she returned the acknowledgement, noting to herself how dreadfully ill he had looked.

Despite the normalcy that had finally started to settle in around her, Marlene was still suffering from her evening nightmares by the second week of her return. She had resorted herself to busying her time tossing and turning into the wee hours of the morning rather than wandering down to risk an unwarranted encounter with Sirius. She had been effortlessly avoiding him since their previous happenstance and it seemed apparent to her that he was indifferent on the subject as he hadn't made any attempt to speak with her. She had initially welcomed the lack of attention but as the nightmares progressively worsened, she was finding that nights spent in the company of her clueless dorm mates, unable to return to slumber, was becoming quite tiresome and she was slowly yearning for something other than laying in her bed for hours on end.

She had awoken that night from a particularly bad episode of her nightmares to Lily hovering over her bed, shaking her fiercely. She had swung out at her, momentarily unclear that she had even awoken and Lily shrieked slightly as Marlene's hand connected with her jaw and she stumbled backwards into the nightstand.

"Lily!?" she said incredulously as she bolted upright in her bed. There were other loud groans coming from the other beds and the curtains opened around Alice's revealing her frantic, worried expression.

"Is everything okay?" she asked timidly while stifling a yawn.

"Marlene just punched me in the face!" Lily said with a bit of hostility. She was nursing the side of her face while she sat in a heap on the floor from where she had fallen over. "But otherwise, everything is just peachy."

"I'm so sorry Lily," Marlene felt terrible. She hadn't realized that during her nightmare she must have been thrashing around and screaming which had awoken her friend. "You just startled me and I was having a bad dream."

"I'll say," Lily said while pulling herself up from the ground. "You were screaming bloody murder; I'm surprised you didn't wake the whole castle."

The rest of the girls had pulled their curtains closed in an attempt to return to slumber but Lily sat cautiously at the end of Marlene's bed first to make sure everything was alright. She looked tired but concerned and for that Marlene was thankful.

"It was just a nightmare Lily," she insisted somberly, "I'm really sorry I punched your face."

After Lily had returned to bed, Marlene lay restlessly in her bed for what felt like hours before determining that sleep was not going to come easy. With a heavy sigh she debated an inner battle with herself on whether she should continue lying in bed or risk a trip down to the common room. After a lengthy struggle she determined she was not accomplishing anything of importance in her bedroom and hoped out of bed stealthily to gather her book bag.

She found that she was slightly disappointed to discover that Sirius was not in the common room but as the clock had indicated that it was nearly four in the morning she figured that even that was late for him. She had to restart the fire in the hearth in order to obtain enough light to be able to see her textbooks before she delved into the workload that had been piling up in front of her since her return.

She had managed to put a small dent in her amount of work by the time the first stragglers descended from the dorms on their way to breakfast. Surprisingly enough, despite how tired he looked, Remus was one of the first early-birds to make an appearance. He seemed far more cheerful than he looked when he greeted her and she was embarrassed that she had grunted a reply in her grogginess.

"You're up rather early?" she managed to spit out amidst a haste to scribble the last few sentences of her Ancient Runes essay.

"I'm always up early," he laughed and it pained Marlene to know that someone could be so fully functional at such an hour. "You just never see it because you're never up at this hour. Which makes me wonder, why exactly are you up? You look exhausted, no offense!"

"I didn't sleep well," she said truthfully. "I've been up for the last couple of hours trying to finish my homework instead."

"I imagine you have lots to catch up on," Remus said apologetically as if indicating that his presence was a distraction to her.

"Yes but I imagine that after being up since four in the morning it might be wise to take somewhat of a break before I begin a full day of further studies," she sighed resentfully and rolled up her essay to toss carelessly into the bag sitting at the foot of her table.

"How are you with your catch up?" he asked curiously, indicating with his hand toward the massive pile of books that were scattered around the table in front of her.

"I'm not going to lie, it's been fairly brutal," she looked painfully at him. "Since I've been back I've had little time for anything that doesn't involve writing essays, reading dozens of chapters or struggling to practice a spell that I'm so far behind on. That doesn't even involve my time spent IN class."

"I bet that leaves little time for Aubrey?" his question caught Marlene off guard as she hadn't been expecting the mention of the Hufflepuff boy.

"Excuse me?" she asked with surprise and Remus looked at her guiltily as though regretting ever bringing it up.

"Sorry," he said quickly, "I just assumed … not that it's any of my business …"

"We broke up," she said firmly before reaching forward on the table to start gathering up the textbooks to store away in her bag.

He nodded in understanding and Marlene concluded that it was probably nearing time for her to start getting ready for classes. She said goodbye and headed for the girls dormitory to shower. Lily was naturally awake and getting ready and thankfully had no noticeable damage from the misgivings of the night before. However, this didn't stop her from teasing Marlene about it for the better of an hour.

It wasn't until lunchtime that Lily had finally forgotten about the accident as she had absorbed herself so immensely in their Transfiguration lecture that she had barely even looked up once from the scribbled notes she had been taking. They had finally begun studying the art of transfiguring humans and they were listening to Professor McGonagall distinguish the difference between Animagi and transfiguration.

"Of course both are concepts of Transfiguration," she had said ruefully when one student had inexplicitly questioned the difference. "I would hope by now that you understand the sheer complexity of animagus transformations as this process takes years to master. It is a completely absorbing, physically demanding task and only extremely advanced and mature witches and wizards are capable of such magic."

"Would you two be quiet?" Lily had whipped her head around to the table behind her where James and Sirius were laughing about something. They weren't loud enough for their professor to hear them but it was obviously distracting enough for Lily. She glared menacingly at them before James offered her an apologetic smile.

"Sorry Lily," he said simply before she turned around to continue jotting down notes on her parchment.

"Transfiguration of humans is a completely different subject. The notion of transfiguring a human does not vary loosely from that of a cup or a snail or a rat. It is a much larger mass and requires a strong finesse in Transfiguration to be able to accomplish successfully. However, transfiguring humans can be done with the simple flick of your wand and does not require years of mastering."

"Unless you're me," Marlene said under her breath. Lily didn't acknowledge her; she was still too busy in her notes to pay attention to anything else.

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Sirius had leaned over the desk so that he was whispering within ear shot. Lily shot him a look but as Professor McGonagall had stopped speaking to write something on the board he really hadn't distracted her from anything of importance.

Marlene offered him a thankful smile and as she looked at him it was the first time in almost two weeks that they had interacted with one another. He caught her eyes and smiled before Marlene forced herself to turn her attention towards the front of the class; a slight blush rising to her cheeks. She had hoped she had turned away before he had seen it.

He took his opportunity at the end of class. Marlene had been packing up her books when he had gracefully sidled up to the edge of their table and leaned against it in front of her. He was blocking her exit path and she noted quickly that she was not going to be able to avoid him any longer.

Lily passed her a reassuring smile before gathering her bag and heading for the door "I'll see you at lunch?" she hadn't waited for a reply before making her exit with Potter quickly behind her.

"Er – hi," she said meekly. She sounded, she gathered, quite indiscreet as she listened to the words flow out of her mouth. She wanted to sound confident and instead she sounded like a shy first year student, too afraid to ask for directions to class.

"Hi," he grinned mischievously at her and the look in his eyes gave off the impression that he was enjoying just how much his presence was noticeably making her squirm. She moved towards the edge of the desk in an obvious effort to leave the classroom but due to her fluster she hadn't properly secured her book bag and it snagged the edge of the table. It hastily jolted her backwards and the bag ripped open, spilling its entire contents all over the floor in one completely ungraceful movement.

"Ugh," she cried out with frustration. She quickly dropped down to gather the contents, clearly embarrassed as Sirius bent down to join her.

"A little stressed out I see," he was teasing her. She glanced at him briefly and noted that he looked highly amused. Nevertheless, he was collecting textbooks and quills around him and had even magically patched up the open seam in her bag for her. He caught her eye and smiled. Her heart fluttered.

"Just flustered," she said without thinking. She mentally kicked herself after the words had come out.

"Some reason in particular?" now she could tell that she had sparked his interest and as she reached for the last book that he was holding in his hand he pulled it away from her. She looked at him with surprise, both of them were still kneeling on the floor beside the desk and his arm was outstretched with the book behind him while her hand was reached out for it.

"Is there a reason why you're holding my book hostage, Black?" she said incredulously. Her nerves were quickly becoming more obvious to her and she hoped that it didn't come off that way in her tone.

"So we're back to Black I see," his smirk widened and he wiggled the textbook tauntingly just out of her reach. Marlene quickly pulled herself to standing and Sirius wasn't far behind her; soon his towering frame stood over her, looking down into her eyes with mild amusement.

Marlene tried to shrug inconspicuously to mask her uneasiness. She released a large sigh and wondered vaguely what it was going to take to get her book and get out of the awkward predicament. He didn't seem too willing to cooperate as his hands still grasped the textbook firmly without so much as an offer to return it.

"You've been avoiding me," his tone had changed and he was suddenly very serious. He was gazing at her intently and his piercing gaze made Marlene shift uncomfortably.

"Have I?" she tried her best to sound surprised but the look on her face told her that he knew better. "I don't recall you attempting to make contact with me either."

"If you recall," he said listlessly, "you ran away from me in the common room while I was trying to call your name. You can't possibly tell me that, in all honesty, you hadn't heard me."

"Well I'm here now," she let out a deep sigh. "You have my undivided attention."

"You're blushing again," his amused smile had returned and his comment caused her to flush, if possible, even darker at the realization of the last time he had made such a comment.

Marlene wasn't quite sure if she could stand it anymore. She was so downright ruffled at the proximity in which he was standing to her. She hadn't noticed but he had obviously moved closer to her as she could feel the heat radiating off his body. His breathing was even and his unwavering calmness made her feel even more hopeless that she couldn't retain her composure in front of him. He seemed amused by her nerves but it was completely mortifying to her for him to see her this way.

She chanced a glance upwards into his eyes and they were sparkling with excitement as if he was withholding some sort of enticing secret she wasn't privy too. His smile seemed quite genuine, despite the fact that he looked so entertained. Her eyes flickered over his shoulder toward the door and she debated only briefly, making a move for it without the textbook.

"I tend to do that a bit," she smiled sheepishly as her eyes wavered back to meet his.

"Here," he had brought the text book forward and held it out for her to take. She grasped it quickly and hastily shoved it into her bag. "How've you been sleeping lately?"

It wasn't a question she had been expecting him to ask but she also wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting of him in the first place. She wasn't quite sure why the question warranted cornering her in their abandoned Transfiguration classroom when he had had ample opportunity elsewhere to approach her about it, but she supposed that after their last encounter he wasn't quite sure if she would have made a run for if he had tried.

"Not particularly well," she answered truthfully and even managed to share her most recent happenstance with Lily only the night before. He was laughing vigorously by the time she had finished and his laughter nearly dissolved the entirety of her previous nervousness.

"You punched Evans in the face?" he asked incredulously. "I don't suppose she deducted house-points for your violent behavior?"

"It was an accident!" Marlene groaned but she was inclined to agree at its entertainment factor.

"I'm sure Evans appreciated that," he had stopped laughing long enough to give her a self-satisfying smirk. "Lucky that you're friends, I would like to 'accidently' instill something of the sort on a particular Slytherin."

"Snape?" Marlene was guessing. She knew that they did not get on very well and he shared an equally strong dislike for the Slytherin student as James did.

"Yes but I suppose I'd be wise not to divulge too much of that information in public," he looked innocently at her and she mistook if for an accusation that she would tell Lily.

"I'm not going to tell her," she had said before the look on his face indicated he had realized her misunderstanding.

"No, no," he insisted, "we're in a very public classroom. I wouldn't want to be automatically accused if something were to happen to him."

"Let's be honest," she said dauntingly, "If something were to happen to Snape, it would probably be at the hands of the Marauders. Am I wrong?"

The smirk had returned to his face. "Touché!"

They had finally started walking towards the Great Hall and Marlene was vaguely aware of the fact that the halls were quite empty. She hadn't guessed that they had taken so long to pack up after class but it seemed apparent that they were probably the last students to make it for lunch.

"What did you think of that lecture?" he asked her curiously. Marlene was quick to recall their previous class and the sinking realization of the level of advanced magic she would be expected to perform was enough to cause her to let out a loud groan.

"I'm never going to pass my N.E.W.T.s, I'm surprised I even managed to pass my O.W.L.s" she said miserably. Sirius was looking at her sympathetically and it was enough to cause her to feel even worse about her capabilities.

"Remus mentioned that you were up last night working on homework," he mused out loud, "If you're not sleeping well and looking for something to do I would be more than happy to help you study."

"I couldn't possibly ask you to do that!" Marlene said with wide eyes. He had been so generous in the past to offer her Transfiguration advice and she knew that she would be lucky to have any extra help she could receive.

"You're not asking, I'm offering," he grinned down at her.

"Yes, but there is a huge difference in asking you to stay up late hours studying instead of sleeping."

"You do realize that the majority of our pranks and misbehavior occur in the late hours of the night, right? I do believe you were introduced to this notion when you started spending time with us. I'm not quite sure why you would think I'm being put out by staying up late studying when I'm not going to be sleeping anyways," Sirius seemed quite humored by the thought which made Marlene feel slightly aggravated that he was making light of her genuine concern but opted to believe that his reasoning was logical. "Of course," he continued, "there are always more useful and interesting things to do with our time instead of studying if you'd prefer."

Marlene could feel her cheeks turning bright red before she could stop herself. She wasn't even quite sure what he was insinuating but the teasing tone in his voice definitely indicated a suggestion that was worthy of her fierce blush.

"You're blushing again," he noted accurately. Marlene hadn't been successful at hiding this to his watchful eye.

"Yes well," she said sharply, "you are very keen to point that out."

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked with amusement but the smirk on his face told Marlene that he was more than aware why she had been modestly flushed.

Luckily for Marlene she was saved having to answer when a large bucket of water came streaming down atop of Sirius's head. The smug look was momentarily wiped off his face in his surprise as the water crashed down around him, briefly splashing Marlene in the process. She shrieked slightly as a second stream of water appeared out of nowhere and collided with the side of her face.

"Peeves!" Sirius said definitively and the two students craned their heads upwards to see the cackling form of the pesky poltergeist. He was holding two medium sized buckets that had once been filled with water that was now dripping down the clothes of the two Gryffindor students beneath him. "Is that the best you've got?"

Marlene could have swatted Sirius for his challenge because it seemed that Peeves had decided he could do better. He had started pelting small marbles at their heads as they hurriedly retreated down the corridor and when he had ran out, managed to take hold of one of the torches in the hallway and began teasingly descending down upon them with the flickering torch. It was only when the flames got close enough to Marlene's head and she could get a whiff of singed hair that they broke out in a frenzied run.

"Over here," Sirius hissed at her. He had grabbed her hand and tugged firmly as they skidded around a corner; Peeves wasn't far behind them. Marlene wasn't quite as athletic as Sirius was and it was evident that he was much more capable at maneuvering around the hallways with an elegant ease than she was. By the time they had skidded around another hallway and he had pulled her against the wall to avoid being detected by the passing-by ghost, she was nearly doubled over while trying desperately to catch her breath. They had somehow managed to end up near the dungeons and were much farther away from their intended destination than they had been ten minutes prior. Sirius didn't seem to mind though, and even despite his soaking wet clothes and mop of hair that was plastered wet to the side of his face, he was smiling with amusement over the whole ordeal.

"Not your first run in with Peeves I take it?" Marlene asked incredulously. Sirius laughed and slumped against the wall beside her, looking off into the distance as though rekindling some sort of memory.

"No," he said guiltlessly, "we run into Peeves quite often around here. I dare say I had that coming."

Marlene was briefly reminded of her last encounter with the ghost when he had pelted rotten eggs at her. She shuddered at the memory.

"Are you okay?" he asked sincerely. He had turned towards her and Marlene became aware at how close they were standing to each other. She could feel the warmth of his soft and even breath on her cheek and only then did she realized that he was still holding tightly onto her hand. She glanced downwards at their entwined fingers very briefly but when she snapped her gaze back up to his eyes his expression had changed quite intensely.

Even up close, Marlene had a hard time not becoming diverted by his attractiveness. She found that today, it was particularly distracting. His mouth twitched into his trademark glorious smirk and it made her heart quicken for a brief moment causing her the sudden desire to reach up and pull his lips to hers.

"What?" he whispered curiously and she realized ruefully that she had been staring.

"Nothing," Marlene could feel her face redden again and Sirius's mouth twitched into another grin before he had released her from his grasp, taken a small step forward and unexpectedly lifted his hands to cup her face. His eyes were locked into hers only for a fraction of a second before he tilted her chin upwards and leaned in to kiss her.

It was nothing quite like what she had experienced with Bert. Sirius's lips were soft, gentle and passionate all at the same time. The kiss couldn't have lasted for more than a few seconds, not nearly long enough for Marlene to fully register that it had happened and definitely not long enough for her to feel satisfied that it, in fact, had. She imagined that they would have continued on for much longer if it hadn't have been for the loud bang that had erupted beside them causing them to pull apart hastily.

Her head whirled around, slightly still dizzy from the euphoria and not able to quite comprehend what had happened but Sirius had been much more reactive to the scene as he already had his wand whipped out and was pointing towards a group of boys at the other side of the hallway that had suddenly appeared.

"Snogging in the hallway are we Black?" the sneering voice of an unrecognizable Slytherin student rang in Marlene's ears. She hurriedly gathered her composure and was aware that Sirius had stepped protectively in front of her as a shield from their view.

"Keep moving Avery," Sirius said with such ferocity that Marlene was taken aback. She had never quite seen this side to him before and it was an unusual change to the typically good humored and playful Sirius Black that she had grown accustomed to.

"It appears that you're in Slytherin territory, perhaps you should move along," the drawling voice of Severus Snape was next and Marlene stepped slightly around Sirius to get a better look. There were only three of them standing there but they looked highly enthusiastic to have outnumbered their opposing Gryffindors.

"Last time I checked, Snivellus," Sirius continued on with his tone, "you were just a pathetic, cowardly, good for nothing prat, too afraid to fight his own battles so you hide behind your dark lord supporting cronies in hope that one day you'll finally fit in. I'm not sure how you think you have any say in where in this castle I can wander."

"Sirius!" Marlene whined quietly behind him warningly. She was well aware of the fact that they were outnumbered with nobody else within sight or earshot and provoking Snape didn't seem like the most intelligent thing to do in their circumstance. He reverently ignored her.

Surprisingly enough, Snape stepped forward from the two other boys with his wand pointing shakily towards Sirius's chest but Sirius didn't seem overly concerned by his movement.

"When have you ever fought your own battles without Potter there to hold your hand?" Snape was raising his voice, clearly in hysteria. Snape's face twisted into a menacing sneer; it looked viciously delighted as he contemplated his next thoughts. "What's the matter Black, mommy and daddy don't love you anymore so you need to pick on and belittle everyone that you deem beneath you? How quaint."

Marlene could tell that he had hit a nerve. Sirius had recoiled slightly at the remark and she was gently reminded of their conversation regarding his parents.

"Flipendo!" Sirius snapped fiercely and with a flick of his wand, Snape went flying backwards and with a sickening crunch, he connected the brick wall behind him. Avery and the other Slytherin were quick to counter, they had their wands drawn and were firing off hexes within seconds. Sirius had been ready for them with a shielding charm while Marlene fumbled in her bag for her misplaced wand to defend herself.

"What is going on up here!?" Professor Slughorn had appeared at the foot of the staircase leading down towards the dungeons. He had walked in as Avery had directed a rather nasty melofors jinx towards Marlene. After failing to locate her wand, she had managed to lift a rather large textbook to shield her face from the oncoming jinx with a matter of seconds to spare. With a startled yelp, she dropped the book to the ground as it turned into a large orange pumpkin.

"He attacked me!" Snape pointed an angry accusatory finger towards Sirius from his crumpled form on the ground. He looked quite pathetic, slumped against the stone wall with his hair disheveled and his face sporting a sour, hateful expression. Marlene felt her irritation rise as she observed his lewdness.

"Is this true ?" Professor Slughorn looked mildly surprised. As head of Slytherin, It wasn't in his usual nature to sidle with his students but it did look apparent from the scene that Marlene was observing that Sirius did look quite guilty.

"Yes," Sirius said simply and Marlene was surprised that he hadn't attempted to charm his way out of punishment.

"And Miss McKinnon?" Professor Slughorn had averted his gaze towards Marlene and she flushed with embarrassment. The pumpkin at her feet was slowly forming back into the former Potions textbook.

"Had nothing to do with it," Sirius stated firmly.

"Very well," Professor Slughorn shifted his gaze between the students uneasily. "Detention Mr. Black and ten points from Gryffindor for engaging in violence in the hallways. The two of you should hurry along now; I should like to speak with my students on their punishment."

Marlene didn't even bother zoning into the protests of the Slytherin boys. She scooped up the half transformed textbook and tossed it carelessly into her bag. Sirius still looked fervent but resignedly put away his wand and followed after Marlene down the corridor in the direction of the Great Hall.

Once they were well away from the Dungeon staircase Marlene stopped and turned on her heel to face a brooding Sirius who nearly ran into her as he wasn't paying much attention. He stopped short in front of her and flicked his eyes up from the ground to look at her and half smiled. Marlene wasn't humored, however.

"What was that?!" she asked with agitation.

"There are numerous things you could be referring to," Sirius said lazily but the fact that his façade charm had suddenly made an appearance let Marlene reeling that he was trying to mask the true emotions that he was feeling.

"Why did you take the blame for that?" She pointedly divulged what she was referring to. She wasn't in the mood to play his games at the moment.

"Because I did attack him," Sirius looked momentarily amazed that she was less than impressed with how he had handled things.

"But he was provoking you!" Marlene said passionately. "Does that not count for anything?"

"Snape is always provoking me," he said humbly. "A detention is well worth wiping the smirk off of his face."

Marlene sighed dejectedly. The topic hadn't even managed to loop back around to the one thing that was pressing on her mind more than anything. She was irritated that Snape had managed to ruin such a valuable moment for her and neither she nor Sirius seemed quite inclined to bring up the subject of what they had been doing when he had interrupted them in the first place. Instead she forced a grin at a different memory and when Sirius questioned her on it she replied innocently.

"Remember earlier today when I told you that if something were to happen to Snape, it would probably be at the hands of the Marauders?"

Sirius laughed as they entered into the great hall.


	16. Part One: Chapter Sixteen

"So let me get this straight," Mary had leaned across the library table so that she could lower her voice. Madam Pince had already given them a warning look for being too loud once since they had arrived and Lily was adamant that she needed the library surroundings to concentrate on her studies. "You were accosted by Peeves, thus why you showed up to lunch looking as if you had taken a swim in the great lake, and then in the passionate moment of escaping said accoster, Black kisses you only to be pelted insults and engage in a hexing war with Snivellus and his minions?"

Lily let out a protesting noise as if she still felt the need to defend the boy that she had once considered her friend.

"Sorry," Mary rolled her eyes, "_Snape _and his minions?"

"Essentially, yes," Marlene smiled shyly at the memory. She had managed to avoid their questioning glances all afternoon but after dinner while studying in the library she had been unable to avoid them any longer. She questioned how the two of them must have looked as they walked into the great hall for lunch late and soaking wet. They had completely forgotten to perform a drying spell before their entrance. Marlene had insisted to her friends that she was not prepared to discuss the details where the Marauders had a chance of overhearing. She figured that the library was a safe alternative for their discussion.

"Your life sure bleeds romance, doesn't it?" Mary said humorously and even Lily cracked a smile.

"So now what?" Lily asked curiously. The girls had absorbed themselves in quizzing each other on the fundamental properties of non-verbal spells for their Defense Against the Dark Arts class which had comprised the majority of their evening.

"I don't know," Marlene said feeling defeated. "I really like him but I'm worried I'm moving too quickly."

"How do you figure you're moving too quickly?" Lily gave her a puzzled look. "You've had feelings for him for a while now, whether or not you realized this and I thought we had agreed that the relationship with Bert was over long before you ended it."

"I'm not referring to that," Marlene said with embarrassment.

"Then what are you referring to?"

"My parents…" Marlene trailed off. She had been doing well at diverting her focus to other matters which mostly comprised of school work. Personal matters, such as the breakup with Bert and her aforementioned feelings for Sirius had come in a close second but there were still the regular occurring nightmares and brief periods of time during the day that her focus drifted off back into a depressive yearning for their presence.

"Oh Marlene," Lily looked ghastly mortified as if she had neglected to acknowledge her friends grief at all. It was one of the reasons why Marlene rarely brought up their death, even when she was dying to talk about it.

"I don't want sympathy," Marlene said bluntly. Lily's face flickered momentarily with grief before she closed her mouth to whatever comment she had been planning to make. "And I most certainly am not looking for pity. I am merely stating that I have gone through a severely traumatic, life-changing event and I don't want to pursue the idea of a relationship on the off chance that I'm looking for a distraction."

"I don't think you'd be using him as a distraction from your grief," Mary chimed into the conversation. She looked deep in thought for a moment before continuing, "But even if you were, he is a quite good looking distraction."

Mary was blushing slightly as she said this but she hid her face quickly into the textbook at the table to avoid any persecution. Marlene looked at her with surprise but it was Lily who swatted her arm dolefully.

"Mary!"

"What?" Mary looked between the two girls innocently, "I'm allowed to think he's good looking! And he is. He's _extremely_ good looking!"

The boys were in their regular spot around the fire when the girls returned from the library at the cusp of curfew. The only one to acknowledge their entrance was a quick glance up from Sirius as they passed by to a small table in the back of the room and a quick smile before he focused his attention back to his friends. Both Mary and Lily had giggled quietly as they settled into the table to pull out a deck of cards.

"You're not very good at being discreet!" Marlene had snapped at them. She had gratefully noted that his friends hadn't given any sort of reaction which led her to believe that he either hadn't told them of their encounter during the afternoon, they were good at being restrained, or they genuinely hadn't noticed their entrance.

A few rounds into their game they were joined by James. He pulled up a chair to their table and carefully rotated it around so that he was straddling it backwards as he watched the game unfold with curiosity. Lily had taken pity on him after a round or two and spent the majority of the time that Marlene and Mary had been playing to explain it to him.

"The goal is to create pairs," she said with controlled patience. Marlene couldn't see why the concept of the game was so confusing for him but after he had managed to engage Lily in a conversation about it he offered a casual wink to Marlene that insinuated it was all a ruse for her attention.

It didn't take long for James and Lily to absorb in casual banter that mostly revolved around potions. Marlene had been noticing that they were able to get along much better than usual so long as James stuck to a neutral subject. And Lily was most definitely willing to discuss school matter with anyone that would listen; a fact, no doubt, that James took full advantage of.

"It's getting late," Mary stifled a yawn a little while later. Lily had abandoned the card game and was reverently debating with James on how to properly resist the Imperius curse. "I think I'm heading to bed, how about you Marlene?"

Marlene glanced over to the fireplace where Remus and Sirius were still engaged in a conversation. They seemed to be lacking a certain level of stamina that they had earlier in the evening and it was with careful observation that Marlene noticed Remus was working on an essay of some sort.

Mary seemed to notice her hesitation because she smiled knowingly and excused herself for their dorm without waiting for an answer. Lily hadn't seemed to notice as she was still conversing with James.

Marlene packed up the cards and grabbed her bag, politely excusing herself from the table even though Lily and James weren't paying her any attention. She wandered over to the couches where the other boys were casually sprawled out and hesitated before settling down into an armchair adjacent to the one that Sirius was in.

"Hey," he offered her a smile before leaning over to the paper that Remus was carefully reading and pointed his finger at a paragraph about half way down the page. "You'll want to rephrase that sentence; you're making the venomous tentacula seem like a nosebleed in comparison to what it would really do to you."

"Right," Remus's brows had furrowed and he began furiously adding notes to his page.

"Muggle cards?" Sirius had averted his attention back to Marlene and was indicating towards the deck of cards that she was still holding in her hands.

"Yeah," she said sheepishly. "In case you get tired of chess pieces smashing each other to a billion pieces."

"How could you ever tire of that?" he looked briefly appalled at the thought before his face relaxed back into an amused grin. "Feeling generously up to losing a round or were you more interested in cracking open a book?"

"Does my presence require needing something from you?" Marlene smiled sheepishly as she dug around in her book bag for her Transfiguration text.

"Generally women are looking for something when they approach me at eleven in the evening," his grin was purely indecent now and Marlene forced herself to hold back the flush that she knew was bound to creep up on her face. She held her gaze with him and shook her head with a dejected sigh.

"You two are making me nauseous," Remus said with a laugh. He gathered his parchment and books in one sweeping motion and bid his good night as he climbed the stairs to the boy's dorm.

"Now you're scaring off my friends," Sirius said playfully but he had reached across the arm rest to grab the text book from her hands so that he could flip through the pages to find something that had obviously crossed his mind.

Marlene didn't apologize; she knew he had been joking. She waited for him to scan through a few different pages before finding what it was that he had been looking for.

"Since we won't be practicing the actual act of transfiguring humans for quite some time, I figured we could just study it well enough so that you are entirely familiar with the material when we do begin. And who knows, if you're a fast enough reader maybe I'll even let you attempt to color my hair pink or something."

The material was rather boring; it wasn't much different than what they had studied in class. They worked through a combination of material from the textbook she had extracted along with the notes that he had, surprisingly, taken in class.

"Human Transfiguration can be used to essentially replicate the natural abilities of Metamorphmagi, allowing the practitioner or the subject to take on an entirely different form or make various individual changes to their appearance, such as growing or changing the color of one's hair or taking on individual animal body parts. However, while human Transfiguration can presumably be performed by any wizard who's skilled enough, on themselves as well as on others, a Metamorphmagus is born with the ability to make such changes to their own bodies with little to no effort and without the use of a wand." Marlene read dully off his notes. "And here I thought you never paid attention in class!"

"I'm full of surprises," he said with a charming wink, "naturally."

The clock on the wall indicated that it was a half past one; Marlene would normally be waking from her occurring nightmares shortly and was grateful for the distraction that Sirius had provided her. However, she was noticeably becoming much more tired and reading the same sentences over again was starting to cause her to lose focus. They were once again the last students in the common room and Marlene hadn't even noticed when Lily had gone to bed.

"I appreciate this, I really do," she said with a small yawn. "I just don't think I can focus on such boring material for one minute longer without the urge to vanish it all."

"That would give you a bit more practice, wouldn't it?" he said, delighted. He moved his arm across to grab the text book from her and closed it firmly. "Let's call it a night then, you look exhausted and I would hate for you to be miserable on account of me."

"You know that I wouldn't be sleeping anyways," she said miserably as she helped him gather up the strewn documents surrounding them.

"How would you know if you haven't actually tried to sleep?" his question wasn't laced with sarcasm like she once would have assumed. Sirius spoke with much more bluntness than she had been regularly used to and it took a bit of deciphering to understand when he was being sincere and when he was not. He was very genuinely sincere with his most recent musing and it caused an overwhelming sense of appreciation for his care for her well-being.

"I suppose that sounds logical enough," she replied casually. She had managed to pack up all of her books, papers and quills and had carefully returned all of Sirius's notes to him. They were sitting quietly in their adjacent chairs alongside the fire and he was leaning inwards with his head in his hand to face her. "Perhaps I'm thinking that if I just avoid sleep altogether I won't have to worry about what time I'm going to wake up screaming and punching my best friend in the face."

Sirius gave her a laugh before his expression went a little more serious.

"You've been waking up screaming?" he asked with concern.

"Sometimes," Marlene shrugged indifferently. She was used to it by now as it had become a rarity but in truth, the occurrence in the beginning had been quite frightening for her and she had spent the first few nights curled up into a ball, jumping at every single noise until she would finally manage to fall back asleep. It seemed to have become a part of her now.

"As much as I enjoy these late night rendezvous with you," he said quietly, "maybe you should talk to Lily about this. She's really good in Potions; I bet she could whip you up a good sleeping potion to help. She's Slughorns favorite; he'd gladly give her all of the ingredients she'd need."

Marlene contemplated the thought. In truth, she hadn't considered the option before and knew that he was right. Lily would gladly help her out if she would bother to tell her just how bad she had been sleeping. Part of her mind reverted back to the pitiful expression that she had given her earlier in the evening and noted that she did not want Lily's pity, even if it meant a few more restless nights.

"I'll think about it."

"Are you planning to go to bed?" Sirius asked curiously. He was looking over her shoulder towards the fireplace and she could see the slowly fading embers flickering carelessly in the reflection of his eyes. For a moment she was fascinated with watching him until he turned his gaze back towards her, causing her heart to quicken.

"I suppose that would be a wise idea," Marlene muttered quickly to mask her uneasiness. Sirius nodded and watched her contentedly as she moved from the chair, gathered her belongings and hesitated momentarily in front of him. She wasn't quite sure what she was waiting for; some form of sign of affection, that the kiss they had shared earlier in the day had, in fact, happened? He made no move to indicate that he was planning to repeat it and she quickly brushed off the idea as though it had never crossed her mind. "Good night Sirius," she said instead with a slight smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, "I appreciate all the help you've given me today, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodnight Marlene," he said casually. His gaze had returned to the fireplace but there was a small smile playing on his lips. She turned towards the staircase and hesitated once more before climbing upwards. She turned briefly to look at him but he had gazed off into the fire as if lost in a thought. Not wanting to disrupt it she resigned herself to forgoing her initial desire to fling herself at him in hopes of a requited passionate embrace. She flushed with embarrassment at the thought and was thankful that he wasn't able to see it.

* * *

><p>March quickly turned into April and the snow sparsely scattered the earth as the suns prominent rays graced the grounds with welcomed warmth that hadn't been seen in several weeks. The upcoming O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. examinations were more apparent than ever as more and more students in their fifth and seventh year became exacerbated with their surmounting stress.<p>

"Remember how we were last year?" Lily mused quietly as they watched a girl break down in sobbing hysterics in the middle of the library over something they hadn't been able to gather. Madam Pince had ushered her out quickly but with more sympathy than she normally emanated.

Mary gave Lily a dubious look; Lily had surprisingly omitted a rather annoying levelheadedness during their exams the previous year. She had spent the better half of their school year in frenzy about the O.W.L.s and then the last couple of months in a stupor of eerie calmness that seemed quite unusual, even for Lily.

Marlene spent most of her nights studying with Sirius. Mary had insinuated that there was more going on but Marlene had been insistent that he was strictly focused on their studies; a fact that had been aggravating her for the better part of the past week. Since the kiss they had shared nearly three weeks ago, he hadn't made another attempt at initiating a move and she was too stubborn to be forward with him.

"I don't get why you don't just ask him about it," Lily said a little harsher than she probably intended. She was probably getting annoyed with Marlene's lack of interest in acting on the situation and Marlene wished that for once she could have a little more of Lily's assertiveness.

He hadn't completely reverted back to the platonic zone though, Marlene had been happy to note. He was constantly walking with her in between classes and shooting off charming, flirtatious remarks during their study sessions. He had even once scowled and moved, almost predatory, in front of her while they had been walking to Potions class when Bert had offered a polite greeting. She had been, at first, surprised by his action but it was quickly diminished as she remembered how Lily had mused he had been jealous of her relationship with the Hufflepuff boy back at the beginning of the year. It was seemingly apparent that Lily had been correct in her assessment.

The frustrating thing for Marlene was that he wasn't quite as easy to read as she apparently was and she was constantly left wondering whether or not he actually meant anything by his flirtatious nature or it was just Sirius being his natural, charming self. Since he hadn't brought up the subject of their kiss and she had refused to be the first to break the ice, neither of them could seem to step past the occasional witty banter and encounters while sitting closely beside each other on the couch late into the night going over Transfiguration notes.

During a Friday evening while playing exploding snap, the boys had joined Marlene, Lily, Mary and Alice and Frank in what quickly became a vigorous tournament. It seemed that James and Frank were extraordinarily gifted at the game and before long the two of them were facing off with one another in a match so violent that even Sirius had shook his head at it, refusing to get involved.

They had been sitting on opposite sides of the couches from one another but as players had shuffled around, new opponents facing off against the winners of the previous match, somehow he had ended up next to her on the couch and she was noticeably aware at how close he had settled in beside her.

Alice had given them a curious look when Sirius had slung his arm around the back of the couch and his arm had briefly brushed her shoulders. She had shivered involuntarily which only seemed to cause him to move closer. Not that she minded, of course, but there was a level of curiosity building in the glance that Alice had given her that had caused her to feel uneasy about his closeness.

"Feeling adventurous tonight, McKinnon?" his low whisper caused her arms to cover in goose bumps. He had been quiet enough that nobody had heard him. Marlene craned her head to the side to look at his face and he flashed a mischievous grin.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked quietly but she knew that it was bound to involve breaking curfew.

"Oh the usual," he whispered nonchalantly. "Snogging in the broom closet…"

Marlene almost let out a squeak of surprise at his comment. She had become used to his witty teasing but it had been the first time he had actually stated an intention rather than leave it to her speculation. She took her free arm and punched his shoulder lightly to which she was rewarded with a hearty laugh.

"Relax Marlene," his amused smile was enough to tell her that he had gotten the reaction from her he had been looking for. "I'm only kidding."

Frank and Alice had disappeared off into the corner after he had won the match against James. In some sort of celebratory indulgence he had whisked Alice away and they were fervently snogging in the back corner of the common room. James had only seemed forlorn at his loss briefly before he had started up a new game with Peter while Lily and Mary had pulled out the deck of muggle cards and Remus had absorbed himself in a book. Sirius and Marlene had been left to watch the newest match of exploding snap take place and Marlene was quick to tire of the game when it lacked the certain level of excitement that it held when it had been Frank playing.

"I am not prepared to take another detention," she had turned her attention back to him with more seriousness than the conversation had had previously. She looked toward the clock and noticed that they were closing in on curfew and she knew that there was no possible way they could make it back in time, wherever he had intended on taking her.

"Can you trust me?" he was looking at her with seriousness and she didn't need to hesitate before confirming that she did, in all honesty, trust him completely. "Good," he smiled when she had nodded in agreement. "Meet me back here at midnight."

"Oh," she was surprised. She thought that they would be leaving right away and had not been anticipating sneaking out after she had feigned sleeping to her friends but regardless as the clock indicated midnight, Marlene had slipped quietly out of her bed and pulled a sweater over her head and changed into leggings from her pajama bottoms before grabbing her wand off her bedside table and slowly slipping out of the bedroom and down into the common room.

Sirius was already waiting for her. She couldn't tell if he had ever left or if he had been waiting for the past hour since she had disappeared up to her dorm room with her friends but he was still dressed in the jeans and dark long sleeve shirt that he had been wearing earlier.

When she approached him he was hunched over a familiar looking parchment of paper but he hastily folded it away as she neared close enough to peer over the edge.

"What is that thing?" Marlene asked incredulously. She had seen them use it several times before but they seemed quite diligent at hiding it from her. Tonight was no exception; Sirius smiled mischievously but did not answer her question.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Where, exactly, are we going?" she asked dubiously. She caught a glimpse of the invisibility cloak on the chair beside him and her previous apprehension eased slightly.

"If I told you it wouldn't be a surprise," he rose from the chair and grabbed the bundled material beside him. He was careful to place the folded parchment in his back pocket along with his wand before moving towards the common room exit, signifying for her to follow him. "I know you already know what this is," he unfolded the cloak and pulled it above his head and indicated for her to join him underneath it. "I know how little you look upon sneaking out at night and getting caught so I figured we'd just use this tonight and not risk the detention."

"That's Lily that frowns upon sneaking out," she said hastily but in truth she wasn't sure she was the biggest fan of the idea either. The first time she had snuck out she hadn't been quite as prepared and ended up with Detention but Sirius was much more talented at these sorts of extra-curricular activities and he had asked her to trust him.

"Right, well, get in here because it's going to be a tight fit. You're lucky you're so short otherwise we both might not fit under this thing," Marlene moved quickly to the cloak, ignoring his comment about her lack of height, and he dropped the cloak around her as she sidled up beside him. Perhaps it was the fact that there a heated, undeniable sexual tension that hung in the air between them, but he wasn't kidding; the room between them was excruciatingly non-existent, almost as if there were less space than the last time they had been under the cloak together.

He moved around behind her and she felt his chest brush against her and his chin grazed the top of her head before they exited the common room. It was a slow and complicated walk through the castle as they were constantly running into one another within the confined space. They hadn't even reached the fifth floor when Marlene grew weary of the daunting challenge and, after Sirius had kicked her shin one too many times, she threw the cloak off in exasperation within the shadows in the corridor they had been attempting to walk down.

"I think we are bound to attract more attention with this thing than without," she sighed dejectedly as Sirius pulled the cloak off of him and grinned.

"Just stick to the shadows and keep quiet," he said in barely an audible whisper before moving ahead of her to lead the way. Although the rest of their walk was much more comfortable, Marlene felt uneasy at being exposed and she felt herself jumping at every little noise.

They had finally reached Sirius's intended destination; the Astronomy tower. It was well known that the tower was strictly prohibited to students unless they had a specified class but that didn't seem to bother Sirius much as he began ascending the staircase, only to glance over his shoulder briefly to ask if she was planning to join him. She figured that for someone like Sirius, who spent probably half of his time at Hogwarts breaking the rules, that sneaking up to the tower was probably not something he worried himself with. However, Marlene was already hesitant at breaking curfew and she shuddered at the thought of being caught in a restricted part of the castle after hours.

"We have the cloak," he assured her. He had briefly pulled out the folded parchment and scanned it before she had a chance to look over his shoulder, "and Filch is down in the dungeons so you don't have to worry about him."

Marlene didn't even bother to ask how he had known that. Whatever secret Sirius was hiding in his back pocket, he hadn't seemed interested in divulging so she figured that it was better left alone. They had reached the top of the tower and Sirius pushed open the door that led to the rooftop; a cool breeze brushed past Marlene's shoulders as she moved outside and she was suddenly grateful that she had grabbed a sweater.

The weather, apart from being slightly chilly, was actually quite nice for April. The sky was a clear mass without a single cloud in sight, and the billions of twinkling stars shone prominently at her with excitement. There was a slight obscure fog covering the grounds but it was still clear enough to be able to see the outline of the forbidden forest and the moon's reflection in the ripping waves of the great lake. She took a few minutes to admire her surroundings before settling onto the roofs ledge beside him.

She watched as he also took in his surroundings and was pleased to note that the serenity of their settings seemed to bring him some form of peace. She moved her gaze upwards towards the sky and admired the twinkling lights flashing brightly down at her and smiled.

She had not moved her fake constellations from her parent's house when she had gathered her belongings after their death. The familiarity of the stars that had once comforted her so much through the years had seemed painful at the time. As though Sirius had known exactly what she needed, even before she had, he had brought her here and she was once again reminded of the good memories of her childhood.

She recalled the time that she had shared with him her habit of enjoying stargazing but he couldn't have possibly known just how much she appreciated his gesture and by the way he seemed to melt into a state of ease from their surroundings, she assumed quickly that it was something that he also took comfort in.

Feeling uncharacteristically brave, she reached her hand across and clasped his hand with hers. She watched his face flicker with a trace of a smile slightly before he squeezed her hand back and continued looking up at the night sky above him.

They stayed like that for a while. Neither of them dared to break the peaceful silence, and both seemed content that the presence of each other's company was more than enough in the moment that didn't need to be spoiled with idle chitchat.

It wasn't until a movement on the ground caught Marlene's eyes that she spoke. Her head had snapped to the dark figures darting across the field away from the castle and she breathlessly whispered to Sirius. He had apparently already seen it as he was already looking to where her finger was pointing.

"Looks like we're not the only ones sneaking out," Marlene said with wonderment. She hadn't ever contemplated the notion that sneaking out was common among the students at Hogwarts, having never desired to do it herself. But she assumed that, now that she had experienced it, there was a certain level of thrill that came along with it.

Sirius didn't seem to think it was just thrill though. His hand had grabbed the forgotten folded parchment, removing itself from Marlene's grasp hastily, and he was looking at it intently. It was the first time that Marlene actually had the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the fine intricate details of the parchment and it appeared to look like a map of some sort. She managed to catch sight of a few black dots that were moving around on the paper where his eyes were focused before he folded it out of view again.

"Snape," he said bitterly. He was looking to the dark figures that were now disappearing into the forbidden forest. Marlene didn't bother to ask him how he knew as she was fairly certain it had everything to do with the piece of paper he had been holding recently.

"It looked like there were at least four of them," she mused quietly. Sirius seemed to be lost in a thought but managed to grunt in reply. His peacefulness seemed to be perturbed afterwards and it wasn't for at least a good ten minutes that he seemed to snap out of whatever reverie he had placed himself in.

"I don't trust them," he said simply but he had finally removed his gaze from the forest and was looking back up towards the sky. "There's my star," he pointed upwards towards a bright star within the Orion constellation and Marlene was glad he had been distracted from his prior musings.

"It's the sky's brightest star," Marlene said absentmindedly and Sirius gave her a wicked grin. She knew before he had even opened her mouth that she had opened a can of worms but she smiled politely and allowed him to gloat arrogantly.

"Not unlike me," he said smugly and she laughed. "You must be paying attention in Astronomy class."

"It's one of my best subjects," she admitted guiltlessly. Her interest in the subject was definitely an asset to her in class and she took pride in knowing that, despite her struggles in numerous other areas of study, she did not need to try hard when it came to Astronomy.

"I like to come here and think when the nights are clear," Sirius had changed the conversation and she was thankful that the wandering Slytherins had seemingly disappeared from his thoughts. "It's a rarity to be disturbed here; I think Filch has too much faith that students aren't willing to risk getting caught in a restricted area. I used to come here quite often with James when either of us needed to cool our head. And trust me when I say that was quite a bit in the first few years of being here."

"Why's that?" she wondered genuinely and she was glad that Sirius was willing to open up to her.

"Well you already know a bit about my family," he said glumly and she couldn't miss the look that passed over his face at the recollection. "When I first came here they were mortified that I had been sorted into Gryffindor but it was the first time that I really felt like my own person. I met James in first year and he taught me that I didn't have to be a stickler for the rules all the time. James is an only child; his parents spent his entire life spoiling him and he had no inclination for what rules were. I suppose that might be hard to believe – a time when Sirius Black couldn't bear the thought of breaking curfew?"

"James and I quickly connected on so many different things and it was the first time in my life that I felt like someone could actually care about me," he continued. "I spent a lot of my time up here venting my family frustrations to him and he was great at listening, offering advice and assuring me that I was better off without them. Only last summer was I finally brave enough to finally speak up to my mum and tell her I'd had enough. They're very drawn to power and with all the business of Voldemort going on right now I know how easily they'll be sucked into that nonsense. I wanted nothing to do with it and I was lucky enough that the Potter's offered me refuge when I took off."

"Is that why you dislike Snape so much?" Marlene wasn't quite sure why she was asking but the thought had suddenly crossed her mind. "I had always thought it was because James was jealous of Lily and her relationship with Snape."

"Partly," he said. "It's always been apparent that Snape has been drawn to power. He reminds me so much of my family and I often used to think that he would have made a better Black than I did. My mum would have been so proud to have him as a son; the thought sickened me every time I thought about it. James and I don't like Snape for a variety of reasons; yes, the fact that James likes Lily and has been jealous of their relationship was always the top contributing factor, but he has been nothing but grief for us over the years. He will take any opportunity to crucify us for patronizing and victimizing him but he has gone out of our way to make our lives just as equally miserable. The difference is that nobody ever happens to see Snape because, like his characteristically house name of Slytherin, he is extremely cunning and a very good actor."

Marlene listened intently to Sirius ramble on with a fierce hatred for the boy that she, herself, did not find very appealing. She had always shared a similar standpoint on Snape when Lily had been friends with him; he had always seemed so manipulative and deceitful but Lily had always turned a blind eye and insisted that he wasn't how he appeared to be.

"I think James couldn't stand the fact that Lily tolerated such behavior. He quickly took a disliking to Snape because of that; he couldn't figure out what Snape had that he didn't. Of course, you've seen how that turned out. James has become the arrogant, pompous pig that Lily loves to detest partly due to whatever Snape had decided to feed into her head about being the victim of our cruel and childish antics."

"Don't you think that James created that own persona for himself when you guys decided to torment him?" she asked curiously. Sirius's eyes lit up with a bit of humor at the question.

"Oh James is definitely an arrogant, pompous git. Evan's has had him pinned to a tee for years but largely for the wrong reasons. Snape was always filling her head with nonsense about James. Most of the stuff we had apparently been doing to him didn't even start until well after Lily believed he was the center of our pranks. It's pretty obvious that old Snivellus is madly in love with Evans, when James started paying more attention to her we figure that Snape became overly jealous and started planting the seeds that he was a bad guy. Up until that point, our pranks were pretty harmless but after he began taunting us and picking battles, well, there wasn't really anything stopping us from pursuing the notion that belittling him in public was the only way he'd ever learn."

"That's terrible," Marlene said harshly. Sirius didn't seem too bothered by the fact that they had taken joy in teaching the Slytherin boy their self-proclaimed lesson in humanity, but she was trying to refrain from judgment.

"I didn't say it was right," Sirius shrugged. "Now you know why we treat Snape the way we do. It doesn't help that he's a pitiful, power-hungry twat. I imagine that he was off with his Slytherin counterparts on their mission to join the antics of Voldemort. James and I have been speculating about it for a few months now; he seems more of a loose cannon ever since Lily relinquished her influence on him, he has nothing to lose now."

"Everyone always has something to lose," Marlene speculated.

"That's what I like most about you, I think," Sirius turned his face back to look at her. "You tend to see the good in people, even when they don't deserve it."

She wasn't quite sure that the compliment was as flattering as he had intended it to be but nevertheless, he had intended it as a compliment and she politely thanked him.

"So now that you know some of my deepest secrets," he said humorously and she was happy to see that he was suddenly in much better spirits than he had been previously, "tell me some of yours. And don't you dare leave anything good out."

Marlene wasted no time admitting her guilty pleasure of star gazing to him and he seemed quite delighted that his idea of an adventure had melded perfectly together with something that she had a strong interest in. She told him all about her family life growing up – the painful recollections of her parents brought fresh and new scars and even after Sirius insisted that she didn't need to talk about it if she was feeling too upset, she continued on with the happy memories in tribute of their memory. He had briefly overheard small details of her cousins engagement to Lily's sister, Petunia, but she told him more detailed events of the atrociousness of Lily's relationship with her sister and their conversation even skirted around the possibility that Lily, perhaps one day, could harbor some sort of feelings for James now that he had started to ease up in his persistence to date her.

It wasn't until the dark figures returned from the forest that Sirius determined it was time for them to head back to the common room.

"You're not planning on following them, are you?" she asked skeptically.

"Of course not," he said almost defensively. "If I had wanted to follow them I would have had a better opportunity finding out what they were up to when they had entered into the forest. They're more than likely heading back to their common room now."

"I had thought there were four of them but it appears there are five," she noted briefly as they watched the figures approach the castle. The fog hadn't eased up much and it made it difficult to see them as they slinked through the field towards the main entrance. "Don't they have any concern for getting caught? They're walking directly into the main hall!"

"If you were working for the most powerful dark wizard of our time, would you be scared of Filch and his bloody cat?" Sirius asked disdainfully. He had insisted on waiting until the students had entered into the castle before rising from the ledge of the rooftop and offering his hand to help her up.

"You don't know that they're working for him," she said dismissively but she couldn't help but feel that Sirius was probably accurate in his assessment.

"No, I don't," he said honestly as Marlene grasped his steady hand and allowed him to pull her to standing.

He was quite a few inches taller than her so she had to look up at him to see into his face. He was smiling at her and she felt herself wishing that they didn't need to leave the tower quite yet. She wasn't quite sure what time it was but imagined that it had to be early in the morning. Sirius didn't quite seem tired but she felt her eyelids growing heavy and she stifled a yawn as he reached to grab the cloak from where he had placed it.

"You should probably check your map," she said as he had made a move towards the door and the slight flicker on his face told her that he hadn't realized she had caught a glimpse of it was when he had pulled it out earlier. "Relax, I barely saw it," she said quickly, "pretty impressive though, I don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me where you got your hands on something like that?"

"Already demanding Marauder secrets are you?" he said cheekily from the doorway. He didn't seem annoyed but he didn't offer anything further on the topic of the map. He pulled it out and after observing it briefly he smiled, put it away, and told her that they were safe to proceed.

He held his hand out to her and she stared at it only momentarily before reaching out to grasp it. An electrifying current swept through her body as their skin made contact and an unwilling shiver completely unrelated to the cold ran up her spin causing her to shiver.

And then he was pulling her into him; her body, flush against him, and his lips crashing down into hers with a firm gentleness. His hands had moved around her waist to pull her closer and the sudden, horribly enticing heat between them intensified almost instantly. Marlene swung her arms up to tangle her hands in his soft, silky hair as he deepened the kiss; gently at first but after a minute or two the need for each other increased and he was pushing his lips into her with a fervent urgency.

Marlene allowed him to force her backwards until she could feel the firm, coolness of the stone wall behind her. She gasped slightly at the coolness against her skin and Sirius took advantage of her sudden surprise to move his hands more firmly up the hem of her sweater so that his hands was touching the skin of her stomach. His touch on her bare skin was invigorating and her hips moved instinctively closer into his body, craving the need for his closeness.

His body pressed back against her in response and she could feel the space between them only separated by a thin layer of their clothing. His hand grazed up the skin on her stomach slightly, but not far enough to make her feel like he was moving too quickly. He moved his arms away from her waistline, much to her disappointment, and allowed his hands to slide up her neck, into her hair and cradle her head tenderly before pulling away almost hesitantly. And like their first kiss, it was over much too soon. Marlene let out a groan of protest as she felt his lips pull away from her. Her hands were still matted in his hair but she quickly released the firmness of her grasp.

Sirius rested his head against her forehead and focused his eyes into hers. Her head was still craned upwards at him but he had bent down in what appeared to be an awkward position so that he would be face level with her. Marlene allowed herself to stare into his gaze without blinking and noticed that the flickering of desire was still lingering in his intense grey eyes.

"I can't seem to stay away from you," he said breathlessly. "No matter what I do, McKinnon, I can't stop wanting to do that."

"Then don't," she said firmly and confidently pulled his face back towards hers, engaging their lips in a much milder kiss. It wasn't quite as desperate but rather a tender gentleness that somehow contained within it an overwhelming passion.

Sirius hesitated but responded quickly allowing his lips to move slowly, delightfully against hers. Marlene could still feel a longing for a more avid embrace but she was more than content with the tenderness that he was giving her and allowed herself to kiss him back eagerly without pushing him to go any further.

Her hands moved from his hair she could feel his body quiver as they trailed slowly down his body to their final resting place against the firm muscles on his chest. His hands were still locked behind her head, tangled in her hair and she whimpered appreciatively as his thumb trailed a soft, affectionate circular motion at the base of her neck.

It didn't last long before he pulled away again and Marlene sighed with defeat. Her mind was slightly disoriented and she had momentarily forgotten that they were standing at the doorway of the Astronomy tower. It wasn't until a slight breeze ruffled past them and she shook from the chill that she remembered where they were. Her mind stopped racing long enough for her to realize that Sirius was looking deep into her eyes wistfully. It was as though he had forced himself to stop and she wished that the pleading look she knew she was giving him was enough for him to identify that she needed more from him.

"You can't keep doing that," she said while looking dismissively at him. He had pulled away slightly further from her than the first time but he was still pressed against her body and his hands had managed to snake around her waist again. "Kissing me, I mean, and then acting like it didn't happen."

"I never acted like it didn't happen the first time," he looked at her inquisitively. Apparently the lack of intimacy between them over the last month hadn't affected him quite like it had for her.

"You kissed me a month ago!" she said with stupor. Sirius grinned at her sheepishly and leaned forward to brush his lips against her forehead. He held her against him and rested his chin on top of her head.

"Yes that was in the heat of the moment," he said guiltily.

"Then what was this?" her question was slightly muffled from the fact that she was pressed up against his chest but he seemed to hear her regardless.

"This was because I wanted to and the timing seemed right," his grip around her tightened instinctively and Marlene sighed with brief gratitude. She forced herself to pull away from him and looked unwaveringly at him. He was looking back at her with pure incredulity as if he was unsure he had said the right thing.

"You're confusing," she said in response and before he could say anything she removed her hands away from him and lifted one up in front of him to stop him from speaking. "One day you're inviting me to an illegal venture into Hogsmeade and helping me studying Transfiguration, and then you're snapping at me for befuddling our potion in class. You even had the audacity to tell me I am inept at following instructions! Just when I think that you hate me for some unbeknownst reason you tell me that 'it's only a potion' and like the flick of a switch you are a completely different person. You comforted me and owled me daily when my parents died and then you ignored me for weeks when I returned. And don't even get me started with that kiss …. To which you failed to ever explain yourself on and now this and you tell me that the timing felt right. I fail to see how the timing is right now when it has been nothing but against us in the past. I don't want to play games, Sirius; I want to know what is going on here."

Lily would have been proud of her for standing her ground. Normally, her anxiety would have gotten the best of her and she would have been grateful to have avoided conflict altogether. She was feeling uncharacteristically brave, however, and weeks of not knowing where they stood had finally reached its breaking point for her patience. She hadn't intended to sound rude and hoped momentarily that he understood.

"I wasn't aware I could be any clearer with my feelings about you," he said teasingly and Marlene resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him. If there was one thing she could note about Sirius, it was that he was exceedingly good about diverting a potentially awkward situation with his charm.

"Words and actions are completely different things," she said with exasperation.

"I thought actions spoke louder than words?" he said in a low whisper, his grin was wide enough that it had sparked the amusement in his eyes and she was once again aware of the fact that he was taking joy in her uneasiness. She detested the effect that he managed to have on her more by the minute as she shifted around uncomfortably in front of him. He reached out to grab her hand and she allowed him to squeeze it reassuringly.

"Marlene, I've never felt more right about anything than I do, right this second. I have spent countless days watching you chase after the wrong person and it nearly destroyed me when you ran into his arms instead of mine. I've been a blindly jealous fool all this time, unable to tell you, show you how I feel in fear that it was unrequited so I lashed out at you and I handled it completely wrong. Ironic to be brave enough to sneak out and break rules and curfew, to wander into a restricted part of the castle and not fear the repercussions but it's taken me this many months to finally muster up the courage to actually tell you that I'm absolutely crazy about you. So if its words that you are looking for, McKinnon, I am fluently gifted with the art of speaking, but I'd much rather spend every day showing you _exactly _how I feel, knowing that you're mine and that we belong together. When I'm with you, the world makes just a little more sense."

Marlene melted and the gap between them closed almost before he even had the chance to breath.


	17. Part One: Chapter Seventeen

Lily and Mary were oblivious to the fact that Marlene had snuck out the night before. When she awoke the next morning, much earlier than she normally would have having stayed out so late, she was slightly disappointed to discover that both girls were still sleeping. She waited patiently for about a half hour before Lily finally started stirring from her four poster before bounding over towards her best friend to share her news.

Lily was first and foremost irritated with Marlene for breaking curfew and sneaking out to go to the Astronomy Tower but she quickly glossed over her irritation when Marlene explained what exactly had transpired.

"So are the two of you dating then?" she said with much more excitement than she had when they had first began their conversation. Mary had woken up as Marlene was half way through her story so she had been forced to start over. Both girls were now looking expectantly at her for her answer.

"I think so," Marlene said with a slight flush. They hadn't actually clarified that they were using the term 'boyfriend' and 'girlfriend' but her recollection of the sentiment he had spoken to her before she had flung herself at him like a moth to a flame had given her enough indication that they were, indeed, dating.

"It's about time," Mary sighed with relief. "I was beginning to think it was never going to happen. I knew all the two of you needed was a push in the right direction."

"What do you mean?" Marlene had caught her words at 'the two of you.' While they had been urging her all along to finally figure out how to deal with her situation, she wasn't aware how Mary could possibly mean the both of them unless they had somehow meddled into it. "What did you do?"

Mary obviously hadn't realized that what she had said had given something away. Her facial expression wasn't quick enough to mask the shock on her face at the realization, despite the fact that Lily was able to think quickly and deliver a believable remark.

"What could you possibly mean, what did we do? We've been supporting you this whole time; Mary didn't mean anything else by it."

If Mary had been quicker to cover her surprise, Marlene may not have even noticed that something was off. Unfortunately, she was well aware that Lily was lying.

"You didn't say something to him, did you?" Marlene's eyes narrowed threateningly, daring them to continue deceiving her. Lily sighed with resignation and Mary let her face transform into pure guilt.

"It just came up one day when I was talking with Remus," Mary said apologetically. "I swear that I didn't intend for it to happen. If it's any consolation he confirmed with me that Sirius has had feelings for you since before the Christmas holidays."

"When did this happen?" Marlene had flung herself backward to stare up at the canopy on the bed frame. She was purely mortified now that she had been subject of a matchmaking scheme devised by her friends.

"It was only a couple of days ago," Mary said hastily. "I guess Sirius was nervous after his kissed you last month because you hadn't said anything so he didn't know how you felt about him. I think that knowing that you did, in fact, like him compelled him to finally do something about it."

"I wish that the two of you had budded out like I asked," Marlene said with an icy underlay. Despite her gratitude that something had happened with Sirius, she was annoyed that her friends felt obliged to help it happen without her knowledge or consent.

"Don't look at me, I had nothing to do with it," Lily said innocently.

"You still knew about it," Mary replied defensively and Marlene let out a deep sigh.

"Well it's done now, isn't it?" She removed herself from the bed and headed towards the bathroom. "I'm planning to go shower now, unless someone feels compelled to do that for me too?"

Her reserve had disappeared by the time they had headed down to the common room. It was a chilly Saturday morning and from the drizzled rain drops that splattered the windows, Marlene was able to determine that the first signs of spring were finally making themselves known.

The boys were waiting for them in the common room. Marlene felt a sudden wave of nauseous anxiety as she caught her first glimpse at him since they had separated the night before. He was looking casually elegant, as always, and looked rather well rested despite the fact that they hadn't gotten back to their dorms until well after three in the morning. The boys were conversing about something that seemed important; Sirius leaning carelessly against the arm of the couch that Peter was sitting in and Remus, looking like he hadn't slept at all, was standing beside James who was whispering feverishly to his counterparts.

Peter was the first to notice them. His glance had shot up at their approaching forms and he hastily poked Sirius in the arm.

"Good morning ladies," he said delightfully, flashing a charming smile in their direction. He had cut off whatever it was that James had been saying because James and Remus had turned their heads towards the girls and James had quickly stopped talking.

"Hello," Mary said simply and avoided looking at them out of what Marlene could only assume was her apparent guilt.

Marlene could feel the growing tension knot in the pit of her stomach. There was an awkward silence that followed before Lily decided to break it.

"Well we're going down for breakfast," it was a simple statement but it was enough of an excuse for Marlene to offer a slight smile towards Sirius before turning to join her friends.

"Wait, I'll join you," Sirius spoke up quickly. Marlene caught the glance he shot his friends and James nodded in agreement before he pushed himself off the arm of the chair and walked gracefully towards the girls. "See you in a few?" the later was directed to his friends who voiced their reply quickly before ducking back to finish their conversation.

Lily and Mary were the first to leave the common room. Marlene was well aware of their tactic to allow her to walk beside Sirius and she was half grateful and half mortified at their antic. Sirius hadn't seemed to notice, or pay too much attention, to the fact that the awkward silence clung to the air as he walked graciously beside Marlene and out of the comfort of their common room.

He instinctively reached down and grabbed hold of her limp hand that had been hanging by her side and the movement startled her momentarily, causing her to flinch slightly at the sudden warmth that omitted from his touch.

"Your hands are freezing," he said quietly, taking notice of the fact that her body lacked the proper blood circulation that would be required for the type of day it currently was. He squeezed her hand affectionately and Marlene felt the blush rise to her cheeks at the realization that they were publically holding hands.

Mary and Lily hadn't turned around so they hadn't observed his most recent gesture but she was aware that, as they passed by other students in the corridor on their way to the great hall, others were definitely taking notice.

She willed herself to relax and stop focusing on the piercing eyes that passed over her as they walked through the mildly busy corridors and averted her attention instead on the back of Lily's head. Before long the doors leading into the great hall came into view and she was distracted from her thoughts on Sirius's hand as her stomach growled loudly and she realized how hungry she actually was.

The rest of the day was rather uneventful; the boys snuck out for a good chunk of the afternoon and refused to acknowledge where they were headed when Lily had asked, and the girls had resigned to reading and playing games in the common room after the weather failed to clear and the rain continued to pour heavily down around the grounds.

"I had really wanted to go for a walk today," Lily said dejectedly. She was staring out at the glum grey sky from the chair that she was nestled into with the book that she had insisted on reading for the fourth time. Her attention didn't seem to last too long on the book as it lay strewn across her stomach and her eyes continued to flicker longingly out the window.

"You can still go," Mary offered pointedly. "You just might get a little wet."

"Aren't you the comedian," Lily raised her eyebrows and buried her nose back into the forgotten book. It wasn't long before she had put it down again and her eyes had automatically shifted thoughtfully back to the window.

Mary and Marlene had started working on their Herbology essays and by the time late afternoon rolled around the boys were still nowhere to be seen.

"He didn't tell you where they were going, did he?" Lily asked when they had retired their activities and headed down to the great hall for dinner. Marlene was surprised at her question; Lily was increasingly more interested in their extracurricular activities than she normally had been.

"No, he didn't," Marlene replied truthfully. "Why do you care anyways, I thought you detested them?"

"I don't detest them," she said scornfully but there was a slight flush to her cheeks that Marlene couldn't help but notice. "I can't imagine what sort of trouble they're getting themselves into that will lose us house points."

"Right," Marlene wasn't quite sure that Lily's answer was completely truthful but she did not press the issue any further.

It was well after supper when the boys returned. Sirius gave a cheeky wink to the questioning look she passed at him when he had thrown himself into the space beside her on the couch. Instead of telling her where they had been he pulled out a box of chocolate frogs from his pocket and tossed it into her lap.

"You went to Hogsmeade?" Lily said incredulously from across the table. She had witnessed the exchange with mild surprise but none of the boys seemed too disappointed to have been exposed.

"Thanks," Marlene said politely and set the box aside to be consumed later.

"I know its Saturday," Sirius said pointedly, indicating towards the Herbology essay that Marlene had been skimming over for Mary, "but since you're already working on homework I figured we could tackle some real practice on transfiguration this evening."

"You're going to let me turn your hair pink?" Marlene stifled a giggle at the memory and Sirius gave her a smirk in reply.

"You're forgetting that I've seen your transfiguration skills in practice, McKinnon, I'm not quite sure I'm willing to quite risk my well-being, even for you."

James let out a low whistle and a good chuckle before propositioning the remainder of the group for a round of chess. Lily was still busy with her book and quickly declined his offer; James' disappointment was only evident for a minute before Remus stepped up to the challenge and the two of them began engaging in a rather comical match.

"Multicorfors," Sirius continued on his conversation as though there hadn't been a pause.

"Professor McGonagall hasn't even gone over that spell yet," Lily said from behind her textbook. Her eyes hadn't left the page but it was evident that she had been listening in.

"What's your point, Evans?" Sirius looked slightly annoyed at the interruption but Lily didn't seem to notice.

"I'm curious how you think you're equipped to teach that spell when we haven't even learned it yet," her eyes had drifted up to meet his in a challenging stare. Sirius did not seem to waver but instead grinned widely.

"And you're telling me," he said humorously, "that you have never studied material ahead of class or practiced spells that were above your training level?"

Lily pursed her lips but did not reply. Marlene knew that Lily did not like being challenged in school matter. It had seemed that James had finally discovered the correct way to earn Lily's attention by allowing her ego to outshine his own. This, however, was not going to fly with Sirius. Marlene was more aware than she had been a year ago on the actual intelligence level of the two boys; she had always known that they had good grades but only recently had she discovered just how smart and talented they actually were. Lily had failed to acknowledge this and pointedly refused to believe that they were just as good, if not better than her in some of their classes. Transfiguration was most definitely one of those classes.

"I'd like to see it then," Lily finally said, challenging him daringly. She closed her book and leaned forward to watch as Sirius pulled out his wand and pointed it lazily at himself

"Multicorfors," he said dully without breaking eye contact with Lily. His dark grey sweater transformed immediately into a magnificent navy blue. "Comes in handy when you run out of clean clothes to wear, isn't that right Peter?"

Marlene thought he might be joking but Peter looked embarrassed for a minute before focusing his attention back on the chess game.

Lily did not look impressed like Marlene thought she might. It didn't seem like it was that complicated of a spell and she wondered briefly why Lily was so surprised that he had known how to perform it.

She discovered very shortly just how difficult the spell could be and that was only for changing colors. If you wanted to change the style of clothing, that was an entirely more complicated task. She had attempted for nearly three quarters of an hour before she was able to see any progress.

"Oh I think I see a spot," Sirius said suddenly after she had exclaimed for the millionth time that she wasn't getting anywhere.

"Where?!" she said excitedly and looked down and around her body for the spot that Sirius had indicated towards. There was a tiny spot that had appeared on the hem of her shirt that was no bigger than the size of a galleon in a slight maroon color.

"Remember how long it took to perfect the vanishing spell?" he said encouragingly after she had flung her head forward against the edge of the table in her despair. "It's going to take a lot of practice, time, patience and you have to remember that we haven't even started this in class yet so wait till McGonagall gets a glimpse of what you can do when she introduces it!"

There was nothing romantic about their interactions that evening. She had gone to bed feeling defeated along with the other girls shortly after ten and Sirius hadn't attempted to initiate any further form of affection when she had bid him goodnight. She wasn't completely disappointed by this though; their relationship was new and she was content to take things slow.

The next two weeks passed by in similar fashion. Professor McGonagall introduced the spell that Sirius had been trying to teach her and even with a bit of a head start she was still finding the task challenging to complete in class. Luckily for her, nearly every other student was having the same problem.

Her evenings were spent typically with Lily and Mary in the library followed by at least an hour of Transfiguration study with Sirius before she'd retire to bed for the evening. There were a few occasional evenings when they would forgo their study to nestle on the couch together while watching their friends play a game of exploding snap or to chat about topics unrelated to school.

She was enjoying the slow moving nature of their blossoming relationship but she was, however, discouraged that apart from holding her hand in the hallways on their way to and from classes, he hadn't kissed her anything quite like he had on the night they had spent at the Astronomy tower. She had received a peck on the forehead and cheek a handful of times over the course of their time together but he hadn't moved to capture her lips and anytime that she had tried he had deflected her movements. Being so much taller than her, he definitely had the advantage.

"Sirius," she finally whined one evening as they were huddled on the couch. She was leaning with her back against his chest and their legs were stretched out on the adjacent cushions. His arms were wrapped around her and he had been nuzzling his face into the side of her neck while his fingers traced soft lines up and down her arm. The motion was driving her crazy. She had been reading through her Potions essay when he had joined her but it was apparent that he was having a difficult time without her undivided attention. "Either kiss me or stop doing that!"

"Stop doing what?" he hummed innocently into her ear, causing her to shiver violently.

She wiggled around as far as she could to meet his face and noticed that he was grinning stupidly at her. She scowled that he had managed to distract her from studying and told herself that she was going to make the distraction worthwhile. As she moved her lips closer to his she felt the familiar annoyance flair up as he pulled away; the grin still plastered to his face.

"Sirius," she exhaled agonizingly in a barely audible whisper. "For Merlin's sake, just kiss me already and stop being such a tease!"

His eyes twinkled momentarily before he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. It was the first time in two weeks that he had kissed her on the lips and she let out a small moan of satisfaction as his tongue traced over hers briefly before pulling away. She felt discouraged that he had made it so brief but was nonetheless happy that he had finally kissed her.

"I don't suppose our friends would really appreciate being subjected to a heated snogging session," he indicated towards their group of peers who hadn't been paying them any attention.

"I don't care," she said childishly. She was feeling far too selfish to be concerned about what her friends thought.

"Do you really want to be known like that," he pointed towards the back corner where Alice and Frank were lip locked in a passionate embrace; their hands clinging to each other like they would never see each other again. There were a group of first years at the table beside them that looked slightly nauseated by the image and even a couple of seventh years were shooting them looks of disgust as they tried desperately to prepare for their N.E.W.T.s.

"It looks like fun," Marlene said sheepishly but she was inclined to agree that she would rather not be subjected to the looks of speculation and that keeping their public affection to a minimum was in both their best interests.

* * *

><p>"Are you dating Sirius Black?"<p>

The question had startled Marlene from her concentration on the rather boring essay she had been working on for Potions class. She lifted her head up from the parchment to see who the shadow belonged to that was looming over her coursework. The dazzling smile of a Hufflepuff girl in her year that she knew to be Natasha Madley met her eyes.

"Er – yes," Marlene said hesitantly. She wasn't used to being openly confronted in the middle of the library about her personal relationships but she supposed that since Sirius and her had shared numerous displays of affection in the hallways that some people were bound to become curious.

"Oh that's fantastic!" she replied with fake enthusiasm and Marlene thought she was a terrible liar. "I've just never known him to actually date anyone before so of course I was naturally curious."

"Alright then," Marlene wasn't quite sure what else to say. She had never actually spoken to Natasha before but it was quite common knowledge that she had been pining after Sirius since their fifth year. It wasn't hard for Marlene to determine that her 'natural curiosity' was more than likely a way to confirm whether or not Sirius had been snatched off the market.

"You're such a lucky girl," Marlene was horrified that Natasha had intended to actually join her. She pulled out the chair beside her and settled into it while pulling out a large textbook, parchment and some quills. Marlene wasn't quite sure if she had managed to hide her perturbed surprise discreet or not but Natasha didn't let on if she had.

"Uh thanks," Marlene said simply. It was one thing to have this conversation with Lily or Mary but with a complete stranger was something new entirely. She wasn't quite sure what to make of the Hufflepuff's intentions but she didn't have a good feeling about it.

"You were dating Bertram Aubrey before, weren't you?" she smiled sweetly at Marlene while drumming her long manicured fingernails on the table in front of her. The soft tapping noise was actually quite annoying but she didn't seem to care too much that she was causing a distraction from Marlene's studying.

"Yes," Marlene could feel a little annoyed at the intrusion but she was trying her best to remain toneless in the hopes that Natasha was only meaning to be friendly.

"Yes I thought so," she continued on drumming her nails against the wood. "He went on and on about you for weeks in the common room. It was so sweet actually; anyone could tell that he liked you a lot."

"I'm sorry but are you friends with him?" Marlene asked dubiously. She really had no idea what Natasha was getting at but the conversation was starting to make her feel uncomfortable and she wished desperately for Lily and Mary to hurry up and join her so she would have an excuse to be done with the discussion.

"Oh goodness no," Natasha gave a light melodic laugh. She tossed her brown hair over her shoulder and offered a large smile, showing off a set of perfectly white teeth. "Like I said, he talked about you a lot in the common room. It would be hard for anyone not to have picked up on it."

"I see," Marlene attempted to divert her attention back towards her Potions essay in front of her. She hoped that perhaps Natasha would take a hint that she wanted to study but it seemed the girl was up for some more chit chat.

"I was just so surprised to hear you were dating Sirius when I knew you to be dating Bert – "

"Bert and I broke up before I started dating Sirius," Marlene said firmly. She flicked her eyes up at Natasha with annoyance; she could already tell that her first instincts were correct that she didn't have good intentions. Natasha's smile widened.

"I'm not quite sure Bert thinks that," she said innocently. "The poor boy was just devastated to learn of your new relationship."

"I really don't see how this is any of your business," she said rather harshly and Natasha's smile wavered slightly at her change of tone.

"No need to get defensive," she said in an equally icy tenor. "I'm just merely making small talk with you. You looked lonely over here all by yourself and I thought you might enjoy some company."

"I was doing perfectly well without your company," Marlene couldn't help it; the words came flowing out before she had a chance to stop them. She knew that the polite thing would have been to thank her and ignore her underhanded remarks but she was too irritated with the girl's bad manners that she didn't even feel like she owed her any courtesy.

"That's too bad," she said, not sounding like she meant it at all. "When Sirius gets bored of you I thought it might be nice for you to have someone to talk to."

"You're delusional," Marlene laughed bitterly. "My relationship with Sirius is none of your concern."

"Right, well don't say I didn't warn you," Natasha smirked ominously. "I've seen him in action before, it's always the same; flirtatious, gorgeous smiles and witty banter until you're head over heels and then when he's got you cornered and trapped under his glorious spell, he drops you like your yesterday's news."

Marlene didn't even bother watching as the girl removed herself from the table and sauntered over to the table across the room where she had come from. She could hear hurried whispers from the general direction and assumed that she had, no doubt, gone back to report her findings to her friends.

Getting back on track with the essay was even more difficult than Marlene had hoped it would be. She knew that putting too much thought into her encounter with Natasha was doing more harm than good and no doubt had been intended to get under her skin. Lily seemed to agree with that notion when she finally joined her in the library fifteen minutes later and she had quickly filled her in.

"She's probably just trying to push your buttons," Lily said with a quick glance to the table filled with Hufflepuff girls across the room. "They don't seem concerned with you at all, I'm sure by now the topic has long been forgotten and you're the only one dwelling on it."

"I know," Marlene said with annoyance. "She's distracted me from my essay now."

"Don't let her get to you," she smiled empathetically. "She's probably just jealous. You saw how she fawned all over him during the O.W.L.s last year. And you know she must be trying to stir the pot, I've never seen Sirius date anyone before so she must be making things up to get under your skin."

"I know," Marlene sighed. She tried to push the thought from her head and instead concentrated harder on Lily's most recent prefect meeting.

"I really think I stand a chance at getting Head Girl next year," she said with such excitement that it was hard for Marlene not to give her anything but undivided attention. "Professor McGonagall hinted very heavily that she's extremely impressed with me."

"Of course she is," Marlene laughed. Lily had an ego but she was always seeking out reassurance.

When the two of them left the library Marlene had to force herself to ignore the frenzy of giggles that erupted from the table in the back corner where she knew Natasha Madley to be sitting. The only sense of appreciation she had was when she heard Madam Pince ream them out for obtrusive misconduct and threaten to kick them out of the library if they couldn't control themselves.

James and Sirius were studying in the common room in a different space than they usually occupied. Normally they liked to situate themselves out in the open around the fireplace as it was a good center point in the room and they no doubt liked the attention they received when they were there. However, this evening they were shoved into a far back corner, keeping much quieter than normal and Marlene would have missed the fact that they were there if she hadn't been paying closer attention.

"I think I'm going to visit Sirius for a bit," Marlene said a bit nervously to the girls when they had joined Mary who had claimed the couches by the fire.

"Don't put too much more thought into what Natasha said," Lily said sternly as she shot a look over towards the direction of Sirius. "She's trying to get to you."

Marlene left Lily to fill in a questioning Mary and instead made her way over to the table that James and Sirius had occupied. She pulled up a chair beside him and he shot his eyes up to glance at her, giving her a brief smile before delving back into his essay.

"A bit late to be working on that isn't it?" she had craned her head over the paper to see what he was working on and noticed that it was the Herbology essay that was due the next morning. She had finished hers nearly two weeks ago and was surprised to see how late they had both left it.

"Been a bit busy," Sirius said gruffly without peeling his eyes away from the paper.

Marlene felt guilty. Sirius had been spending so much time helping her with her transfiguration she hoped that it wasn't because of her that he was falling behind. However, that excuse couldn't be used for James who seemed to be working on the same piece of homework and she wondered what other reasons they could have had for such procrastination.

"I don't really know how long I'm going to be," he said with a bit of edge to his voice. He sounded almost impatient, as if he was annoyed that she was hovering around his work station.

Not wanting to be a distraction for him she excused herself from the table to rejoin Lily and Mary by the fire. He barely acknowledged when she removed herself from his presence and she couldn't help but feel the slightest twinge of annoyance towards him for it. She knew that she was probably reading into it too much because of her previous conversation with Natasha; Sirius was busy writing a last minute essay, he was bound to requiring his pure focus on the task and she would be selfish to deny him that right because of her own insecurities.

"You're back quicker than I anticipated," Lily said with surprise as Marlene sank down into the seat beside her.

"Busy working on homework," she waved her hands in the air dismissively. Lily and Mary looked shocked at the thought of James and Sirius working on homework. "Yes they do actually do homework!"

She didn't feel like sharing Sirius's rough interaction with her as she knew that both Lily and Mary would assure her that she was overanalyzing things so instead she brushed it off like it was nothing and attempted to let it slip from her mind. After about a half hour of random discussion in which Marlene did not feel inclined to want to dwell too much more on the conversation she had had with Natasha, Lily spent the majority of the time going over the same prefect story that she had shared earlier in the evening as Mary had not been present for it. Marlene felt herself growing tired of the conversation so she opted to spend another portion of the evening continuing on with her forgotten potions essay.

Despite the hitch she had experienced earlier with being unable to concentrate on its completion, she had found a renewed sense of attentiveness to her paper. She scribbled away fiercely until Mary tapped her should to indicate that it was time to head to bed.

"Is it really that late already?" she asked incredulously. She glanced over to the clock and was completely shocked to discover that it was already nearly eleven o'clock. "I should say goodnight to Sirius before I head up. I'll meet you both upstairs?"

"I think Sirius already went to bed," Mary said uncertainly. She pointed over towards the table that the two boys had been sitting earlier and Marlene was shocked to see that it was completely empty. In fact, nearly the entire common room was deserted and the two boys were nowhere to be seen.

Marlene scowled slightly and she felt her frustration return. It was one thing for him to work on school work and wish to be left alone, but she would have appreciated his decency to at least say goodnight to her before he had departed.

"You didn't see him leave?" Marlene asked as she packed up her school things. Both Lily and Mary shook their head; they had also been too engrossed in their own respective studies to pay attention to much else.

With a heavy sigh, Marlene picked herself up from the couch and joined the girls on their way to the dormitory trying desperately hard not to exert too much frustration on something so insignificant. Natasha's words clung to her thoughts like fresh paint and she had to mentally remind herself that her mind was just overreacting and she would see Sirius tomorrow who would confirm she was being unnecessarily insecure.


	18. Part One: Chapter Eighteen

A/N: Sorry guys, I posted out of order. You get two chapters today to make up for my mistake!

* * *

><p>The next morning Marlene awoke without a concern for the previous night's worries and had nearly forgotten about it entirely until she had reached the common room with the girls and Sirius wasn't anywhere in sight.<p>

He was usually waiting for her in his usual place by the fire but a quick glance over there indicated that none of the marauder boys were within the vicinity of the common room. She opted to wait a few extra minutes before Lily pointed out that they might still be sleeping.

"It's already eight thirty," Mary said doubtfully to this statement and even Lily had to shamefully admit that it didn't quite seem plausible for them to have all overslept so late.

"Let's just go down for breakfast," Marlene let out a sigh of frustration. She didn't want to be the cause of their tardiness and it seemed far more believable that the boys were probably already down in the great hall having breakfast. She didn't want to jump to any conclusions but the edge that she had been feeling the previous night had returned and she could feel the knot in her stomach growing tighter. "He probably just got tired of waiting for me."

Sure enough he was sitting at the table with the rest of the Gryffindor boys and Marlene hesitated before making her way to join them at the empty seats beside them.

"Good morning," she said hastily. She could instantly tell that he was in a bad mood because he barely looked up to acknowledge her and only mumbled an incoherent greeting in reply. He was slouched over his plate, stirring the food on it aimlessly with a sour look on his face.

Lily and Mary exchanged questioning looks with Marlene but she shrugged her shoulders in reply. She had absolutely no inclination as to what his issue was.

"You seem a bit off this morning," she whispered to him as she helped herself to some breakfast.

"Late night," was all he managed to reply in a gruff, annoyed tone that was unusually abnormal for Sirius's typical carefree behavior. It vaguely reminded her of the time that he had acted irritable during their potions class in the week leading up to the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff and she frowned. She didn't bother pointing out to him that she had been up even later than he apparently had and instead focused on the full glass of juice that she had poured herself.

"We should probably get to class," Remus noted not long after; the table had been subdued with an awkward silence that nobody seemed keen to break. "We're going to be late."

Marlene speedily removed herself from the table without even finishing her breakfast. She had planned to give him a little bit of space to calm down from whatever broodiness he had gotten himself into but she had been pleasantly surprised when he easily caught up to her stride to slide his hand into hers.

"In a bit of a hurry aren't you?" he asked curiously in regards to her sudden hasty departure from the great hall. She hadn't bothered waiting for him before making her way into the main hall in route of Charms.

"Don't want to be late," she lied easily and for once in her life he seemed to believe it.

Despite the immediate relief she had felt in that moment, it seemed to be short lived once they had arrived at their Charms classroom and Professor Flitwick had commenced class. The rest of the day seemed to go downhill from there and Marlene was less than impressed to discover that whatever bad mood he had been in previously, had carried over to the end of the day.

Sirius hadn't waited for her at the commencement of classes and was nowhere to be found in the confinements of the common room when she had arrived with Lily and Mary.

"He's acting strangely today," Marlene said apprehensively.

"You're overthinking it Marlene, it's just a coincidence," Lily tried to sound comforting with her assuredness. At the sight of the other three marauder boys enter in through the portrait hole to join them without the accompaniment of Sirius, Marlene could feel any sense of comfort that Lily had been able to provide her diminish.

"Where's Sirius?" she tried to sound nonchalant about her question and she guessed that only Lily and Mary knew the true depth of her desperation.

"Who knows," James shrugged but he seemed agitated by something and wouldn't divulge any further.

Unfortunately, the bad mood seemed to continue on over the course of the weekend. It was apparent that something was bugging him but her first mistake was continuing to pry at what it was.

She had cornered him in the common room on Monday evening after classes as he rarely seemed to be around anymore. He had been skipping out every evening when he usually had spent his time tutoring her transfiguration without so much as a simple explanation and she had grown weary of his apparent antics to avoid her.

"What is going on with you?" she had settled herself into the seat on the couch beside him.

"It's nothing that concerns you," he snapped harshly at her. His face relaxed for a flickering moment as if he had realized the starkness in his tone but it had disappeared quicker than she could be certain it had ever crossed his face at all.

"Fine!" she snapped back at him when the annoyance had returned to his face. She had been more than patient with him over the past couple of days despite the fact that her own insecurities were nagging at her that it had everything to do with her.

"Marlene," Sirius groaned with annoyance. "Please don't make this a big deal."

"How am I not supposed to get upset?" she asked him frantically. "You've been acting weird for days; moody, irritable, and you've been avoiding me."

"I've been avoiding conversations like this!" his voice had risen slightly again and she could sense that she had most definitely caught him at a bad time. Although, no time lately felt like the right time and she struggled to figure out what she was supposed to do about the whole thing if he wasn't willing to talk to her about it.

"So what do you want me to do?" she barked back at him. "Just leave you alone and not speak to you again?"

"Yes that would be a great start," his words hit her like a ton of bricks. No remorse seemed to cross his face as he said it and only when the tears had started to well into the corners of her eyes from his harshness did he seem to have realized how punitive he had been.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said apologetically and he scooted closer towards her as if to pull her into his arms. Marlene didn't allow him the gesture and she stood up mechanically from the couch, staring down at him with fierceness amidst the haze of tears that threatened to spill from her eyes.

"Come find me when you've had time to figure out whatever issues you're having."

She was deeply disappointed to find that the rest of the week passed in much the same fashion.

By Tuesday he was blatantly ignoring her; she had hoped that it would blow over but apparently it hadn't. He hadn't even bothered to save her an empty seat in the great hall, nor did he bother waiting to walk with her to and from classes and she wasn't surprised to find his presence lacking in the common room after dinner; something that had become the new regular for him.

By the end of the week her emotional well-being had seemed to reach its limit. She understood that bad moods were a pending part of humanity but he was starting to act completely ridiculous. Even James seemed a bit off from his regular arrogant tendencies and was lying low. He had even managed to completely ignore a couple of passing Slytherins one day after Potions without so much as a retorted insult or trip-jinx.

Friday evening came welcomingly for Marlene. She had spent the better part of the week disgusted with the treatment that Sirius had displayed towards her which had quickly turned into mortifying confusion as she noted his constant disappearances and her mind raced with every possible reason why.

"I doubt he's cheating on you," Lily said firmly when the thought had crossed Marlene's mind and she had voiced it out loud.

"Is it that farfetched to believe?" Marlene snapped almost frantically. "He's good looking, charming and heavily flirtatious. I don't think it would be hard for him to pick up a girl along the way."

"Yes but he's been after _you_ for how long?" Lily offered hopefully but it was not a good enough reason in Marlene's eyes.

"He also won't kiss me and now for the past week he's been an angry, blithering fool who keeps disappearing all the time, ignoring me and I know he has nothing to be jealous of so I'd love to know what possible reason for it all is other than the fact that the thrill of the chase is over and he no longer want's me! Maybe Natasha was right." Marlene had nearly driven herself to tears at the thought but as they were quite publically placed under their favorite willow tree by the lake, she wasn't willing to allow her emotions to be witnessed by the handful of student's around her.

"Don't be silly," Lily seemed slightly more apprehensive than she normally would have been and Marlene knew that she was trying her best to be supportive without telling her that the thought had also crossed her mind.

"Maybe it has something to do with Remus?" Mary suggested thoughtfully. Marlene shot her a look of confusion and asked her for clarification. "Well he's looked dreadful all week and he wasn't in class this morning. I heard Frank telling Alice that he was sent off to 's last night for some sort of virus."

Marlene felt a pang of sympathy for the boy but she did not believe that his sickness had driven Sirius to act the way he had been. She did not say otherwise and allowed Mary to think that her suggestion had been a realistic one.

The girls spent the majority of the warm and sunny evening conversing by the lake. Lily had insisted that they had been studying too much and that they deserved a weekend to relax. This was mostly in part, Marlene assumed, because they were constantly reminded of the fact that their entire seventh year would be nearly three times as stressful than the sixth and that free evenings, such as this one, would become a rarity in their future.

"Probably won't have time for relationships next year," Lily said sadly. She had briefly dated a few boys back in fourth and fifth year but they had always been scared away by James when things had started getting serious. "Although, I'd much rather get good grades than waste my time canoodling by the fire place, exchanging nauseating love quotes. No offense to you girls."

Marlene was suddenly reminded of Alice and Frank and she snickered.

"I bet if it was the right boy canoodling you by the fire you'd change your mind in a heartbeat!" Mary said slyly and Lily blushed furiously.

"Have I missed something here?" Marlene looked between them with confusion. She had been fairly absorbed in her own personal affairs but she didn't think she had been too busy to miss something going on in Lily's love life.

"No you have not," Lily said simply. Mary laughed and rolled her eyes. "And if you insinuate Potter one more time, MacDonald, I am going to hex you into the lake."

"Potter?!" Marlene said with surprise.

"Mary has this funny notion that because James has been shockingly nice the past few months that I am suddenly going to swoon to his charms and start dating him. How many times have I insisted that I do not like James Potter? He is still an arrogant, bullying toerag and just because he plays nice in the classroom and can hold a decent conversation without asking me out every five minutes does not mean that I'm suddenly going to fall for this new approach and agree to go out with him. We are completely different people and I am not interested in anything more!" Lily huffed defensively at a giggling Mary and she quickly became quiet. Lily's temper indicated that she was done on the subject and Marlene knew that Mary would be wise to drop it.

"It's going to get dark soon," Marlene attempted to change the subject. The sun was starting to admit a glowing hue of red and orange at the horizon and the temperature had dropped slightly so that it wasn't quite as warm as it had been earlier in the day. She shivered slightly as she was wearing fewer layers than would be comfortable and indicated that she was ready to head inside.

The girls packed up their belongings and continued their walk to the Gryffindor common room amidst conversations of the upcoming Hogsmeade visit to take place in May. Sirius had failed to ask Marlene so she wasn't quite sure what, exactly, her plans were but she opted to join Lily and Mary for a butterbeer at the three broomsticks in case he never did bother to ask.

Sirius wasn't in the common room when they arrived but Peter and James were located at a back table, hunched over a large piece of parchment and whispering to one another. James was looking rather bored and Marlene speculated that they must be working on a homework assignment but she wasn't curious enough to put much more thought into it. He didn't join them for the rest of the evening and by the time Marlene was ready to head to bed, the overwhelming fear that their breakup was imminent had crept back into the foremost of her thoughts and the nagging feeling that something was wrong left a familiar knot in her stomach.

She lay in bed for well over an hour mulling over all the details and by the end of it she didn't feel any better than she had when she started. Sleep was a humorous notion to her and she tossed and turned in bed unable to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. Ever since she had started dating Sirius she had noticed that she was starting to sleep a bit better. The fact that they stayed up a bit later studying had also helped to tire her out so that her body was less inclined to wake during the night. However, despite this fact, the nightmares were still occurring from time to time and she awoke only a short time after she had fallen asleep in a blanket of sweat.

The clock indicated that it was nearing midnight and she instinctively headed for the common room like she had so many nights before.

This night felt different though and she couldn't help but feel as her feet descended the staircase that she was doing something horribly wrong. As she neared the last few landings she was unconsciously forcing herself to be quiet as though she were sneaking into a restricted section of the castle, trying to avoid detection. It was while she was at the final landing before reaching the common room that she could hear their voices.

"Where is he anyways?" it was Peter and he sounded almost impatient.

"I don't know, I already told you he hasn't been talking to me much." The voice of James floated to her ears.

"He knows what night it is right?" Peter's voice had gone softer and she had to crane her ear to hear him better.

"Of course he knows what night it is, I'm sure whatever shenanigans he's up to are well worth –" his voice trailed off as the sound of the portrait hole opened and a set of hurried footsteps rushed in. "Padfoot, what - ?" James had continued to speak but he was quickly cut off.

"I've done something horrible," Sirius didn't quite sound like himself. He was more frantic than he had ever sounded to Marlene and there was a certain level of guilt that lined the tone in his voice.

"I'm sure it couldn't possibly be that bad," James was trying to reason with him but the desperation in Sirius's voice had reached a new level of high.

"No!" he insisted and Marlene could feel herself holding her breath, waiting to hear what terrible, horrible thing he could have possibly done to warrant such a reaction. Was this the reason why he had been avoiding her? "Snape's been following me around all week. You know how nosey he gets where Remus is concerned. I only noticed it this last week and I've been trying to deflect him but he's always there, trailing after me like a lost puppy. It wouldn't surprise me if he's been up to this for a few weeks now."

"You never noticed him on the map?" Peter chimed in nervously.

"I haven't always had the map," Sirius snapped impatiently. "I've been spending so much time with McKinnon that I haven't always been careful about covering my tracks when I go out. I've been trying to throw him off this last week ever since I found out."

Marlene felt her heart skip a bit when she detected the regretful tone that omitted at his admission to their time together.

"What exactly are you getting at Sirius?" James tone had changed slightly. If he had seemed calm before there was definitely an element of panic that accompanied it now. "We're always careful when we go out with Remus so he couldn't possibly have any reason to suspect –"

"I…I couldn't help myself," Sirius sounded downright miserable now and Marlene felt her stomach lurch upwards. Her hand braced the wall beside her and her eyes widened as her mind raced with the most horrible things that she could think of. "I've been so absorbed in my own personal matters lately and just the fact that that piece of filth thought it was any of his damn business to know what was going on drove me over the edge. I caught him tailing Remus earlier, no doubt in the hopes that he'd figure it out….and I couldn't help it. You know how I get sometimes; my temper just got the best of me and I…I just, I figured that if I just told him _how_ to get past the Whomping Willow…."

There was a scurry of noises; a chair squealed as it was shoved backwards and a ruffle of paper followed.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," she could hear James' hysterical voice utter. There was a moment of silence before a long line of expletives that followed.

"Should I get the cloak?" Peter was asking quickly.

"There isn't time for the cloak Wormtail, he's already in the entrance hall. What could you possibly be thinking Padfoot!? This is quite possibly the stupidest idea that you have ever had in your life, he could _die! _Are you prepared to live with that on your conscience for the rest of your life?" James was furious now and there were loud footsteps as the boys dashed out of the common room and any trace of conversation that followed was lost to Marlene's ears.

She waited a moment with baited breath before stepping off the final landing and into the confinement of the deserted common room. Her mind was still racing from the conversation that she had just overheard. It hadn't been clear enough for her to understand what exactly was going on but she had gathered enough that Sirius had attempted some sort of prank on Snape that James believed was life threatening. And what exactly did Remus have to do with it all? Hadn't Mary indicated that he had been admitted to St. Mungo's?

Her eyes glanced over to the table that she had known Peter and James to be sitting at earlier in the evening and noticed with elated surprise that there was a large unfolded piece of parchment laid out across the table, almost as if it had been hastily forgotten in their rush. She slowly walked over to it but hesitated as she caught a glimpse of the fine intricate details of the map she had momentarily caught sight of when she had been with Sirius. She wasn't sure what sort of trust she was breaking by looking at it but she figured that they had seemed too preoccupied by whatever situation was unfolding to come back for it.

She stood over the map and admired the elegant scrawl that dubbed the parchment 'The Marauders Map.' It was an extremely well crafted, complex map of Hogwarts and her heart fluttered for a moment as she caught sight of her name above a black dot within the Gryffindor common room. Her eyes trailed over the map to admire its handiwork before she reminded herself that she had further interests in the map than the apparent esthetic appeal it entailed.

She could see three more dots halfway to the entrance hall with the labels James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew and noted that they must really be in a hurry if they had already managed to get so far in such a short period of time. She recalled another portion of their conversation; Sirius had mentioned the Whomping Willow. Her eyes drifted across the map towards the main entrance where she could see the dot labeled Severus Snape hovering around just outside the main doors to the entrance hall while the names of Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall approached the castle from outside the grounds. Her eyes drifted across the map, to the direction that the two latest dots had been coming from, to the outskirts of the forbidden forest where she knew the vicious tree to be planted. To her surprise, there was another dot there that had caught her attention; a name that she had not been anticipating to see.

She blinked a few times to make sure that she wasn't reading the map wrong but the undeniable dot was still there every time she opened her eyes.

_Remus Lupin. _


	19. Part One: Chapter Nineteen

She hadn't really thought about what she was doing until she was already halfway down the fourth floor corridor, ducking quietly in and out of the shadows. The fact that she had not had time to put shoes on was immensely helpful in ensuring that her soft footsteps were undetectable.

The adrenaline was back and she was feeding off of it hungrily. Sirius had managed to spend most of his time sheltering her from things that she probably had no business being involved in in the first place, but that didn't stop her from the maddening curiosity that was driving her out onto the grounds after them.

She had grabbed the map out of both selfish reasons and out of courtesy for the boys who she knew would be devastated to learn that it had fallen into the wrong hands. It had come in quite handy as she was able to avoid running down the usual pathway straight into the sights of Filch and his cat Mrs. Norris.

She had noticed that Remus had disappeared off the edge of the map and it didn't take long for Snape's to vanish after it. She had noted that the three boys had made it to the willow in remarkably speedy time and she would be lucky if she were to make it to the great hall before they had returned.

She had underestimated her agility though and she was pushing through the doors and into the cold of the spring breeze before long. She was only wearing a pair of light jogging pants and a loose t-shirt so the weather was a lot colder than it would have had she been wearing the proper clothing. She ignored the chill that coursed through her body and she dashed out across the grounds towards the forest edge.

She could hear some shouting in the distance and she hesitated before slowing her pace to a standstill in the middle of the field. Her bare feet were soaking wet from the dew in the grass but the coolness didn't bother nearly as much as the thought of not knowing what she was walking into. The adrenaline was starting to dissipate as she realized that nobody was aware of her presence. She scolded herself for not thinking straighter and contemplated heading back towards the tower when a loud shout captured her curiosity once again.

"You tried to _KILL_ me!" it was slightly muffled but it was clear enough for Marlene to pick out what the figure was trying to say. She inched closer slightly and had to squint her eyes to get a better look.

It appeared that James was tugging on a resistant Snape who was trying desperately to move away from him. Marlene realized quite suddenly how vulnerable her position within the field was and she took a sharp turn to the right towards the far edge of the forest and into the safety of its shadows. She mentally reprimanded herself for not thinking to be more discreet but her presence had gone unnoticed by the two boys that were moving slowly away from her new position and towards the castle.

"We didn't try to kill you," the figures were struggling with each other slightly and Marlene noticed that Sirius and Peter were not with them. "It was a horribly misguided Prank Severus, Sirius wasn't thinking straight when he told you – "

"Don't you dare try to charm me with your nonsense Potter! I know you had a hand in this." Snape was sneering.

"If you don't get moving I'm going to be forced to knock you out and take you into the castle myself, you saw with your own eyes what happened. I know you are smart enough to know what will happen if we stay out here much longer," James was being stern and urgent. Marlene couldn't figure out why.

The Whomping Willow had been thrashing around violently after James and Snape had moved away from its vicinity. She could see now that the two boys had an urgent step in their pace as they jogged swiftly towards the castle entrance but they were too far away now for her to hear any more of their conversation. The tree had grown calm and silent for only a brief moment before it started whipping around again in such a fierce violence that Marlene jumped back slightly into one of the trees she was taking shelter by.

She pulled out the map and chanced a glance at it. Her heart skipped a beat as she recognized Peter's name appear on the map only a short distance from her and she quickly glanced up to see where he was but there was nobody standing there.

The tree wailed one long swing around before freezing as though it had been stuck by the petrificus totalus spell which seemed, to Marlene, quite unnatural even for a magical tree. There was a slight ruffle of movement and Marlene caught sight of a dark figure emerging from the forest near the tree base and approached it hurriedly. The figure wasn't human and the dark coat of hair that gleamed in the moonlight told Marlene that it was some sort of animal.

As it neared the tree, Marlene shifted her position slightly to get a better look at the creature. She narrowed her eyes slightly to observe it closer; it appeared to be a rather large, black dog. A twig snapped beneath her feet and she winced with panic as the animal stopped moving and refocused its attention to the place where Marlene was hiding in the shadows.

Her breath caught in her throat and every instinct within her was screaming at her to run. The castle was quite far away and she felt her heart grow heavy at the realization that she would never be able to outrun the creature safely back to the safety of Hogwarts. Despite the urgency in her brain insisting that she needed to move, her feet had seemingly become immobile and she was unable to do so.

The animal must have sensed her because she watched in horror as it moved away from the spot by the willow and with swift agility started bounding towards her location.

She fumbled for her wand before the sickening realization that she had left it in her dorm room settled in over her and she was left with the only two options available to her; run or take her chances with the beast, unarmed. She managed to find her feet and she stumbled backwards a few steps before turning on her heel and dashing deeper into the forest.

She knew that she was doing something completely foolish; she was unarmed, being chased by some unknown creature and she was heading into the dangerous restricted forest with no protection from the frightening creatures that took residence within. Marlene didn't feel like she had much choice as she flung herself over a rather large shrub and landed on slight declined hill that she had been unable to see. Her ankle rolled on her landing and she felt her body give out from under her as she fell sideways; her arm reached out to brace her fall as her body impacted with the sharp rocks beneath her and rolled a couple of times before slamming into the base of a massive trunk.

She could hear the pounding footsteps of the creature behind her and it was all she could focus on to bring herself back to standing. Her foot was throbbing, a sure sign she had twisted it in her fall, but she couldn't allow herself to care and pushed herself off the tree into a brisk run back into the heart of the woods.

"Marlene!" there was a voice calling from behind her and she faltered. Had she been hearing things? "I swear to god Marlene McKinnon, STOP RUNNING!"

She felt her pace slow reflexively but her mind was screaming at her for her carelessness. She whirled around at the sound of the increasing footsteps and braced her arms in front of her face for the animal she was sure was going to leap out at her from the shadows but instead she felt two hands, firm with a vice grip, grab her arms and yank them away from her face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" It was Sirius and for a moment Marlene felt complete relief wash over her before she remembered the animal that had been chasing her.

"Sirius there's a big dog chasing after me, I don't have my wand!" she looked around in a panic, trying to find where it could have disappeared to.

"There's nothing chasing you," he insisted firmly. "Now answer me, what are you doing out here?" He sounded quite angry and the relief that Marlene had been feeling by his presence had disappeared altogether. He was looking intensely at her with his brows furrowed and she noticed with slight disdain that the grip he maintained on her arms were so forceful that she could already sense her skin bruising where his fingers were digging in.

"Sirius, you're hurting me!" she cried out painfully and he quickly dropped his hold on her.

"Are you insane!" he half yelled at her, "do I even want to know how you knew we were out here?! Or were you just following me again, McKinnon, because apparently you can't keep your nose out of my business!"

Marlene felt a pang of betrayal as his words stung her. She could feel her eyes begin to well with the slight saltiness of tears but she forced herself to hold them back. She was having a hard time believing that this was the same Sirius that she knew and cared deeply for; he seemed to be a completely different person now.

"I used your stupid map!" she said bitterly and thrust the folded parchment into his chest. His eyes widened briefly as he glanced down to look at the map before shooting his gaze back up to hers with a new fierceness.

"What did you see?" he snarled and his eyes narrowed into menacing slits. She had only heard him speak this way once before and she was reminded sharply of the time that he had spoken with Snape in the corridor right after he had kissed her for the first time. She shuddered at being on the receiving end of it now.

"I saw Snape," she said quietly, "and Remus."

The look on his face had changed and he was suddenly looking a little nauseous. He had paled and even in the dimly lit clearing of the forest she could notice that he had seemed to lose a shade of color.

"Sirius," she said urgently again. "That creature, it could be back at any moment!"

His failed acknowledgement of the threat that imposed upon them was unnerving to her. He didn't seem overly concerned with her panic and she was feeling her anxiety start to build up again as her ears caught wind of an eerie howl in the distance.

"Marlene," he said impatiently, she finally detected a note of panic in his tone. "There are far worse things you need to be concerned about in this forest than a dog, okay?! There is something extremely dangerous making its way into the forest right now and it's not going to be long before it finds us. We have to go back to the castle NOW!"

He didn't wait to hear her protests before he yanked on her arm and started dashing through the underbrush with her in tow. Despite the fact that her nerves had taken control of her body, her mind was still reeling with curiosity and questions.

"I don't suppose you're planning on telling me what it is exactly that I've stumbled in on?" she huffed breathlessly as they moved at a quicker pace than she was comfortable with. Her ankle was throbbing uncontrollably every time she put pressure on it but she forced herself to suffer through it without complaint.

"There really isn't time to tell you anything right now," he said severely and she could sense that his anger with her had returned. She yanked her hand from his grasp and planted her feet firmly in the ground, refusing to continue on further. She could see the forest edge only a mere twenty feet from them and the grounds were visibly lit by the fullness of the moon. The added light made it easier to see the scornful expression on Sirius's face and she tried to equally match it.

"I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me what is going on!" she stated firmly and crossed her arms over her chest. She knew that she was being unreasonable and stubborn. It didn't appear that Sirius had a wand either and two teenagers alone in the forbidden forest without magic was a clear recipe for disaster should whatever creature she had seen earlier decide to find them.

"Stop being stubborn for once, McKinnon," he moved forward to grab at her hand again but she pulled away quickly from him. "Just let me take you back to the castle where I know you'll be safe!"

"Safe from _what _exactly? Tell me what's going on!" she insisted resolutely and she watched a painful expression momentarily replace the anger on his face. She knew that he was hastily contemplating his options before finally releasing a deep sigh and running a nervous hand casually through his disheveled hair.

"Can you please just trust me that this situation is much bigger and dangerous than you could possibly imagine it being?" he said pleadingly. "If something were to happen to you – "

"Oh so now you care about my well-being?" she said sarcastically. She couldn't help herself; the annoyance she had been feeling over him during the past week was willing itself to be released. She knew that this wasn't the time or the place for it but his lack of willingness to trust her, when she had trusted him so many times before, was causing her not to think logically.

"This really isn't the time – "

"I don't think you get to decide what the time for things are," she said harshly, "I have been questioning for the last week what possible reason for your attitude could possibly be. If you wanted to break up with me, Sirius, there are far simpler and more civilized ways you could have done it."

"You think I want to break up with you!?" the shock on his face was evident and for a fleeting moment, Marlene felt that he was genuinely astounded that she had come to this conclusion.

"Why else could you be avoiding me like the plague?" she asked him bitterly.

"Marlene," he was sounding quite desperate now, "let me explain later, please – "

But he was cut off by the sound of that same eerie howl that had beleaguered the forest earlier, except this time it was frighteningly closer than it had been the first time she had heard it.

"We have to go NOW!" Sirius was more than frantic now and he flung himself forward to grab Marlene's arm once again and pull her from the shadowy seclusion of the forests ledge. Her fear had drained any other thoughts from her brain and she allowed him to drag her into the clearing of the Hogwarts grounds without protest, back into the moonlit field that separated them from the majestic Hogwarts castle.

Just when she thought they were out of harm's way, the howling echoed her ears once again but this time it was accompanied by the sound of heavily padded footsteps and the rustling of trees. She chanced a glance backwards just as a massive grey wolf bounded from the underbrush and into the field behind them, snarling viciously and looking as though it was hunting to kill.

"Sirius!" she screeched. There wasn't enough time to make it to the castle as they weren't even halfway across the grounds. The wolf was most definitely not the same animal she had seen earlier in the evening and was at least two if not three times the size. This creature didn't look like a typical wolf either; his face was menacingly mangled amidst a ferocious set of razor sharp fangs, and he didn't gallop with the elegant grace of a canine but rather that of a human on its back hind legs. She immediately knew what Sirius had meant by far worse creatures than a dog. Her mind raced back to the Defense against the Dark Arts class when they had covered this particular beast. A glance upwards to the full moon that lit the evening sky confirmed her worst fears; this was no ordinary wolf, it was a werewolf.

"Marlene," Sirius was panting at her and his grip on her hand tightened. "You are to keep running to the castle. Do not stop, do not turn around, keep running and don't stop until you are back in the Gryffindor common room. Do you understand me?"

"What about - ?"

"DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!" he was shouting at her and she knew that they had limited time and she was wasting it with her questions.

"Yes," she said meekly.

"Good, now go!" he released her hand, thrust the Marauders map at her and she continued running, only vaguely aware that he had stopped and was lingering behind her, waiting for the approaching creature.

"Sirius?" she hadn't realized that he had intended for her to go alone and she was suddenly brought to the realization that neither of them had been armed. Her horror got the best of her and she tripped over her foot and flew, skidding roughly, into the grass in front of her. She twisted her body around; afraid to see just how close the wolf was and what had happened to Sirius.

But Sirius was nowhere to be seen. Instead her eyes were met with the sight of the familiar large black dog bounding towards the wolf. He crashed into it and the wolf let out a piercing howl and used its front arm to swat heavily at the dog, causing its dark body to go flying sideways and into the grass. The wolf's attention was still on Marlene and he bounded forwards again towards her.

Marlene let out a startled yell but the black dog leapt back up from his position on the ground and flung himself forwards at the wolfs neck. There was a loud yelp as the dogs jaws connected with its jugular and the two creatures engaged in a heavily vicious brawl.

It gave Marlene just enough opportunity to collect herself. She did not waste any more time watching and quickly pushed herself to her feet and flung herself forwards to the castle. She could hear the noises growing fainter as her battered body carried her up the stairs to the main hall and into the safety of the school. She forced the doors closed behind her and the sounds from the grounds disappeared completely. Her body slumped against the door and she allowed herself to catch her breath before remembering that she had promised Sirius she wouldn't stop until she had reached the common room.

She opened the map hastily to make sure that she was safe from detection by Filch or another professor but her eyes were too focused on the two dots on the Hogwarts ground that she had just escaped, to pay much attention to anything else. The map confirmed the thought that had been begun playing through her mind.

_Remus Lupin_ and _Sirius Black._

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><p>She waited in the common room for him to return but after an hour she felt her eyelids growing heavy and decided that her time was better spent in the confinements of her bed. She observed the map from under her covers and watched when James had returned, unaccompanied, but by the time sleep had overcome her body there had still been no sign of Sirius, Peter or Remus on the map.<p>

She awoke the next morning well after eleven. Mary and Lily had left her to peacefully sleep in and she was thankful because the second her eyelids fluttered open she let out a soft groan from the pain omitting from her body.

A quick scan of her reflection in the bathroom mirror indicated that she had suffered various scrapes and cuts, along with a few severe bruises that she was lucky enough to cover with her sweater. Her ankle was a different story and she felt the slight swelling of it before she had even had the chance to look at it. It was slightly discolored with a hue of purple and felt tender to touch but the worst of it was the limp that she was forced to use when putting pressure on it.

She gathered the map from under her pillowcase and was happy to note that Sirius appeared alone in the common room and she hastily made her way down to see him.

She hadn't seen him ever look as distraught as he did in the moment she first glimpsed him. He was staring off into space with a purely pained look on his face that did nothing to enhance his already natural good looks. He looked up at her when she stepped off the landing and his brows furrowed in what appeared to be resentment, causing Marlene to recoil at his intensity.

"Here's your map," she handed it to him and he hurriedly folded it away without a word to her. "Were you ever planning on telling me that you are an illegal animagus and that Remus is a werewolf?"

Sirius looked up at her with surprise. She had gathered from his expression that he had been hoping she hadn't pieced it all together.

"I don't think this is the right place to have this discussion," he said solemnly.

"There's nobody here," she said firmly. "I already checked the map."

Sirius shook his head though and she was obliged to agree that the sensitivity of their conversation matter wasn't something that they should ever risk being overheard.

"Let's go for a walk," he suggested instead and the painful throbbing in Marlene's ankle reminded her that a walk was probably not the best idea.

"Fine," she said, ignoring the pain that was shooting up her leg. The two of them exited the common room in silence and only after they had descended down the first flight of stairs did Sirius happen to notice the limp in her step.

"You're limping," he stated obviously. "Let's swing by the hospital wing first so Madam Pomfrey can take a look at it."

"I'd rather not see her," Marlene insisted stubbornly. "I will just deal with the pain."

Sirius was fairly persistent though and before Marlene could even register where he had been leading her, they were standing outside the familiar white doors leading into the infirmary.

"Remus is here," he said quietly so that Marlene would not be surprised if they caught a glimpse of him.

The curtain around the farthest bed was closed though, and no noise emitted from it that gave her the inclination that Remus was probably still asleep. Madam Pomfrey had rushed over almost immediately as they walked into the hospital wing to examine Marlene's ankle.

"It looks like it's just a slight sprain," she looked at Marlene conspicuously. "What did you possibly do to cause this?"

"Peeves was chasing us and I slipped on the stairs," Marlene lied instinctively. She sounded so convincing, even to herself, that she would have believed the story had she not been at the scene of the real accident the night before.

Madam Pomfrey shook her head disapprovingly. She was muttering under her breath some nonsense about ghosts as she fixed Marlene's ankle and sent them on their way.

When they had reached the entrance to the grounds, Marlene hesitated slightly at the door.

"Relax," Sirius tried to reassure her, "we are just walking around the lake."

He didn't speak to her again until they were completely distanced from any of the students scattered across the grounds and Marlene even offered to cast a simple silencing charm to ensure that their conversation could not be heard by prying ears.

They had settled into a spot underneath some trees on the far side of the lake and Marlene took the opportunity to dip her feet into the cool water as Sirius casually leaned against the tree trunk behind her.

"Remus is a werewolf; I don't suppose there is any chance of hiding that from you now. James, Peter and I discovered it back in third year and we've been working on becoming animagus ever since. Werewolves, as you know, target humans but there is no risk to us when we transform into animals. That's what we've been doing to help Remus over the past two years, our animagus forms accompany him on his monthly transformations to make it easier on him, distract him if you will."

"You asked me why I disliked Snape so much. I never lied to you but I didn't tell you the most important reason. Just like James, Peter and I, Snape has always been curious the reasons behind Remus's constant disappearances. He's been obsessed with finding out where Remus goes all the time and we've had to thwart his efforts over the last couple of years just to throw him off the trail. About a week ago I discovered that he had been tailing me and I haven't been very careful lately. If I had gone somewhere, or said something and Snape had overheard … well anyways, I finally caught him and I've been trying to hinder him for the past week. Unfortunately, he caught on that I was aware of his presence so he decided to throw me off the trail. By the time I had realized he had tricked me, he was already following after Remus and I knew that I had to think quickly. Last night we got into a pretty heated confrontation and in my anger I just wasn't thinking properly. I knew that if he went out to the Whomping Willow, I knew that'd he find Remus and I stupidly told him how to get there so that Remus would rip him apart. I thought that I was doing the world a favor."

Marlene was looking at him intensely. She wasn't quite sure what to say to him and a nauseous, sinking feeling tugged inside of her at the thought of Sirius purposely leading Snape to the company of a werewolf in the hopes that he would be harmed.

"I'm not proud of what I did," Sirius admitted guiltily, "I acted out of anger and I wasn't thinking rationally. If something had happened to Snape, Remus would have never forgiven himself, never forgiven me and I can't stand that I am the one to have put him in that predicament."

"What happened with Snape?" Marlene's interrupted him.

"James got to him just in time," Sirius kicked at the earth with his heel before sinking down against the base of the tree trunk he had been leaning against. "Remus goes to the shrieking shack, I'm not quite sure if you were able to figure out that much because I know the map doesn't show it. Dumbledore has been fueling rumors for years about the shack being haunted. That's Remus making those noises that the villagers hear, it discourages them from getting too curious and getting too close to it. There's a secret passage under the willow, I told Snape how to get into it and James stopped him just as he was about to pass through into the shack. It was too late though, he saw Remus transforming and he knew exactly what was happening. James took him to Dumbledore last night; this wasn't a situation that we were going to be able to gloss over."

"So what now?" Marlene continued, "Is Snape going to say anthing?"

"I don't think so," Sirius looked thoughtful, "but he thinks we were all in on this when really it was just me and my own stupidity. And if that wasn't bad enough! James got Snape out in time while Peter and I hid in the forest so that we could ensure that Remus didn't follow after them. You're lucky that I could sense you hiding in the forest, I can't even begin to imagine what could have happened if we had emerged with a werewolf and you were lingering around trying to get a glimpse of the action. What in Merlin's beard did you think you were doing, following us around like that? You could have been killed and I never would have forgiven myself!"

"I overheard your conversation in the common room; you told James that you had done something horrible. Before you go accusing me of listening in on your conversations I happened to be traveling down to the common room anyways. I just so happened to have walked in at a bad time. You've been acting so funny all week I'd be lying if I said I wasn't suspicious that you had been cheating on me or something like that."

"You honestly think that little of me?" he said bitterly and Marlene did not miss the hateful expression that crossed his gorgeous features, briefly making him look far more menacing than he was.

"Well then maybe you should explain a little better," she replied just as intensely. Sirius continued to stare at her with piercing eyes before she continued. "I understand that you might be frustrated because Snape has been trailing you, but that isn't a very valid reason to take it out on me!"

"I have not been cheating on you," he said defensively. "I hope you see now that I wasn't lying when I said that my business didn't concern you."

"When you ignore me and treat me rudely," she retorted with venom, "then yes, it does concern me. I don't care whatever harmless shenanigans you and your friends get yourself into so long as you don't take out your anger on me when things don't go your way and you don't put other people's lives at risk, even if they are Severus Snape. I'm supposed to be your girlfriend, Black, not your emotional punching bag."

Sirius looked thoughtful for a minute. She thought she saw a slight flicker of remorse cross his face before his stubbornness took back control and he shook his head.

"Look," he said pointedly. "I don't have to tell you everything that I do and why I do it. Just because we're dating doesn't mean that you have to be involved in everything. You did an extremely careless thing last night by following me out after hours. I think I've shared more than enough information with you on this matter and I have other important things to deal with like the prospect of being expelled. I don't have time to deal with you and your emotions too."

"You're kidding me?!" she had raised her voice now and it was deathly, almost threatening for him to continue. She had shot up from the ground so that she was now standing over him with towering rage. "You think that my life revolves around you? Well I'm sorry if you feel that way, Black, but lucky for you, you don't have to deal with it anymore. You and me? We are done!"


	20. Part One: Chapter Twenty

**A/N: I know this has been a really long time between updates. I promise I still have about another 6 chapters to continue uploading and I've started working on this again. I've been really busy with a new baby and the story sort of fell off my list of priorities. This chapter concludes Part 1 in an intended 3 part series. Hope you enjoy :)**

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><p>"You know that he has temper problems sometimes, right?"<p>

Marlene glanced up from her textbook in the library and was almost mortified to discover that James was standing at the foot of her table. In all her years at Hogwarts she had never seen him in the library before and it was the last place she had expected to be ambushed.

"I don't really care Potter," she said dryly and averted her gaze back towards the same sentence she had been reading. Except that her focus had deplored from the content of her book now and it was with growing irritability that she realized James had managed to divert her thoughts back on to Sirius. She flushed with irritation as she realized she was actually curious why James had decided to pay her a visit.

It had been a week since she had stormed off from their spot at the great lake and she had been initially annoyed that he hadn't attempted to chase after her. She had hastily broken up with the boy that she had been pining after for months in the heat of the moment and she was constantly questioning whether or not it had been the right decision.

When Lily and Mary had asked her about it she had lied and said he had been cheating on her. She knew that it was absolutely the wrong thing to say but she had been so irritated with him that it was the first thing that shot out of her mouth. After all, she couldn't possibly tell the girls the actual truth.

"You should care," he said innocently before sinking into the chair next to her. She shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably and tried to drown him out but the words on the page suddenly didn't seem to make much sense and she couldn't seem to move past the same sentence she had been focused on when he had first arrived. "Sirius has been miserable all week. He told us what happened – yes, he told Remus too so Remus is fully aware that you know about his furry little problem."

Marlene couldn't help herself; she let out a small smile at his irony.

"Sirius has always struggled with knowing when to shut his mouth. He's constantly saying things he doesn't mean because he likes to provoke people. When you come from the house of Black and you spend as much time as we do provoking the Slytherins, it becomes almost a natural defense to shut out the people you care about. I daresay that his annoyance with you over the whole matter stems greatly from his stubbornness."

"Right," Marlene's smile had disappeared and she was trying to sort out sense of what she had just been told. "So you want me to believe that Sirius, frustrated with his own problems, took it out on me and then when I budded my way into the problem _because _Sirius had pushed me away that he got even more defensive and pushed me away even further? And I'm supposed to believe that this is, in actual fact, a sign of endearment, that Sirius cares about me so much that he would rather ignore me in the hallways and act like I don't exist than step foot into the library and tell me this himself?"

"Er – " James looked doubtful. "Yes?"

"You can do better than that Potter."

"Look," he said with a sigh, "I know Sirius really well. He gets moody when he's upset about something. Maybe he hasn't outright said he's pining away over the breakup but I haven't ever seen him quite this miserable before. Even if he hasn't attempted to reconcile with you, I know that it's all he's been thinking about."

"What about last week?" Marlene couldn't help her sarcasm that laced her rhetorical question.

"No, last week he was irritable. This week he's just downright depressing," James said with a furrowed brow. "Snape made him extremely heated. Sirius acts out; he avoids people, he doesn't talk, he gets snappish. It's just how he deals with his frustrations. Eventually, he just gets over it."

"So that's supposed to explain why he felt the sudden urge to put Snape in a situation where he was nearly killed?!"

"I never said that it was an appropriate way of dealing with things," James said profoundly. He glanced around nervously as if to check that nobody was within ear shot of their conversation. "Sirius regrets that decision more than you could possibly ever know. I imagine it will be a decision that haunts him for the rest of his life. He's already being punished enough as it is, do you really think it's appropriate that you punish him for it too? This is an all new miserable. It's greater than the time that he ran away from home to come live with me, it's greater than when he lashed out in his jealously when you started dating Aubrey, and I can assure you it is much greater than last week when you think he was avoiding you because he wanted to break up with you. The last thing that Sirius wanted was to break up and unfortunately you didn't give him much choice in that matter."

"I don't think I had much choice either," Marlene said pointedly. "Sirius may have some anger issues to deal with but I am not prepared to allow him to pick and choose when he thinks it's acceptable to be an active and present boyfriend." She sighed and gave up attempting to read her book. She closed it and set it on the table in front of her. She brought her eyes to focus on James and was astounded to see that he looked genuinely troubled. "Truthfully, I'm just not quite sure how I'm supposed to look past what he did."

"Is this because of Remus," James was sounding defensive now.

"No this has nothing to do with Remus," Marlene said quickly to assure him that she had no prejudice over Remus's condition. "The Sirius I know isn't capable of pawning away someone's life, even if it is Snape. But then again, maybe the problem is that I don't really know who Sirius is, maybe I've never really gotten to know the real him."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," James was suddenly toneless. "Sirius isn't a bad guy; you're missing out if you continue to believe that."

"Maybe he's not the right guy," Marlene was lying but she was too enraptured in her own selfishness to care what affect it was going to have. She knew that she couldn't be with Sirius right now, not after what had happened and she was disappointed that he had felt the need to send James to talk him up for him.

"And maybe he is," James said sadly before pushing himself away from the table, "and you'll never know because you didn't give him a chance."

"I did give him a chance to explain," Marlene insisted firmly. "I gave him the opportunity to tell me what had happened and he lashed out at me for prying my nose into his business. And now he hasn't even attempted to talk to me since it all happened which really leaves me to question how much merit your words actually have on the whole matter."

"Did you ever stop to think that as equally mad as you are that he ignored you and lashed out, that perhaps Sirius was just as frustrated that you felt inclined to invade his privacy, follow him into a, need I remind you, very deadly situation? I don't think Sirius is the only guilty party here, McKinnon. Perhaps you should mull that over for a while."

"I don't need to mull it over," she mumbled irritably. "It's done, we broke up. There's nothing left to say."

"So that's it?" James looked at her blankly. "You just give up?"

"I didn't give up, he did a terrible thing and I just don't know how I'm supposed to accept that," Marlene narrowed her eyes at him. She was beginning to become aware that their voices were rising slightly and she was shot a look from the librarian at the front of the room. "If you don't mind I'm trying to study and I'd rather not be kicked out of the library. You should probably go report back to Sirius now, let him know whatever it is he wanted to find out since he obviously can't be bothered to do it himself."

"Sirius doesn't know I'm here," James stated matter of fact.

"Oh," Marlene said simply. She had assumed that he had sent James and her irritation grew even further at the thought that Sirius still couldn't even be bothered to talk to her even despite everything that James had just stated.

"One more thing Marlene," James said as he pulled away from the table towards the doors. "About Remus – "

"I wouldn't tell a living soul," she said hastily. "Not even Lily or Mary."

"Thanks," he said with a nervous smile before he turned on his heel and disappeared through the doors into the hallway.

It wasn't until the next morning that she took a really good look at Sirius for the first time since their breakup. At breakfast he was looking quite as miserable as James had said he was; he had large circles under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in the entire week and his usual smug and pompous charisma had disappeared as he slouched over his plate, picking at the food with boredom.

She longed to reach out to him, to throw his arms around his neck and kiss him senseless. They had only been dating for a few short weeks but she knew that he hadn't quite been ready for it to be over. James's words to her in the library had managed to sink in through the night and it was with guilty realization that she was definitely accountable in the matter whether she wanted to believe it or not. Still, her arguments to both Sirius and James were steadfast in her mind and she knew that there would need to be changes in order for things to ever stand a chance at working out properly. Despite James' assurance that Sirius was devastated over the matter, his disposition didn't indicate to Marlene that he was quite over his anger and resentment towards her and she wasn't quite sure that she was completely over her feelings of antipathy towards him either.

And then there was the whole matter of Snape. As much as she disliked the boy, she couldn't imagine what he ever could have said or done to provoke Sirius to the point of sheer madness. There could have been countless other ways that Sirius could have deflected the impending reality that Snape was sneaking off to trail Remus yet he had chosen the most stupid and drastic. Whatever had transpired between the two boys that night must have been severe enough for Sirius to seriously considering risking his life. She hadn't even bothered to ask at the time, as the reason seemed so trivial in comparison to the deed, but her conversation with James had rekindled an interest. Too bad she would never be able to ask.

Sirius glanced up at her as she sat down and she quickly looked away from him. She didn't want to see whatever look was on his face, in his eyes, whether it was hatred and anger, or sadness and remorse. She continued to tell herself that she was better off not knowing because it would make getting over him and moving on all that much easier.

"He's looking over here again," Mary felt the need to point it out. She sounded irritated and Marlene couldn't blame her. She was under the impression that Marlene had caught Sirius snogging some fourth year in a broom closet.

"Let him look," Marlene said dejectedly. She poked at the food on her plate but didn't end up eating anything. She had suddenly lost her appetite.

She didn't have long to dwell on the situation as the middle of May meant exams were fast approaching. She fell back into a comfortable routine of studying in the library until nearly curfew so that she could be assured no further encounters with the Marauders were in her future. Despite James' assurance that Sirius was truly devastated over their breakup, she couldn't be certain as he hadn't made much effort in approaching her on the matter. After her anger towards him had subsided slightly amidst the buzz of upcoming exams, she had begun effortlessly avoiding any chance of a run in with Sirius, making sure that she left no opportunity for him to corner her in an ambush in case he decided to finally try. She became lucky enough after a while though, everybody else, it seemed, had put a priority focus on their upcoming examinations and even Sirius seemed to rarely be doing anything that didn't require a textbook.

Her fruitless study efforts with Sirius had paid off during her Tranfiguration exam; she had successfully vanished all of the objects that had been assigned during the examination and she was fairly confident that her written portion would excel past Professor McGonagall's expectations of the properties of human transfiguration.

Herbology, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts and Muggle Studies were all relatively simple examinations and she felt confident that she had at least passed, if not scored above average. Astronomy was where she exceled at though, and she had left her exam in sheer delight knowing that she had aced it. Potions had been a little trickier but she made sure to concentrate on the instructions, taking nearly double the amount of time that she normally would have in class. Her Strengthening Solution looked passable but she was a little bit more concerned about the color variation of the Befuddlement draught than the ones she had been brewing in class with Sirius.

The girls had decided to celebrate the finish of their final exam by enjoying the sunny Friday afternoon out on the grounds underneath their favorite Willow tree. Lily was already gushing about the books she was planning to read over the summer and she had already grabbed two of them to choose between to start reading under the shade of the tree.

"I'm not in the mood for any more reading," Mary said anxiously, "I have seen enough books in the past few weeks to last me a lifetime!"

Marlene couldn't agree with her more; she was not particularly in the mood to stuff her face inside another book whether it was for study or for pleasure and Mary had offered that they play a round of cards instead to which she had delightfully accepted.

"I'll have to go grab them," Marlene said while searching through her book bag. "I only brought along school supplies."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Mary asked kindly. They were already in the main entrance hall on their way to the grounds and Marlene insisted that it was silly for both of them to venture the entire way up to the seventh floor tower for a simple pack of cards.

"You could just conjure it," Lily suggested helpfully.

"I'd rather just dump my books off anyways," Marlene insisted after thanking Lily for the suggestion. She hadn't even thought to use magic for the task. "I'm not going to be used to that you know, when I turn seventeen in the summer and I'm able to use magic outside school."

The girls separated and Marlene attempted to quicken her step so as not to waste too much time on the long venture up to the seventh floor tower.

She wasn't paying much attention on her way back to the common room as she was too lost in her thoughts about what the summer holidays held for her. She was going back to her Uncle Tom's house in Godric's Hollow but since she would be technically turning of age in August, she knew that she was soon quite able to do as she pleased. As she rounded the corner on the sixth floor to head towards the staircase, lost in this thought, she ran straight into the boy that she had been so desperately trying not to think about for weeks.

She flew backwards but his reflexes were quick enough that he reached out and grabbed her before she had managed to hit the floor.

"Are you okay?" Sirius said with such intense concern that Marlene was almost certain the butterflies in her stomach were going to make her vomit. She pulled away from his grasp quickly and his face fell.

"I'm fine," she mumbled, shifting the strap of her book bag to the opposite shoulder. "Thanks."

Sirius wasn't alone. James, Remus and Peter were standing with him and there was a moment of awkward silence before James said "Well, Remus and Peter and I are going to head out to the lake, if you wanted to get that thing from the dorm and meet us later?"

Marlene knew that it was a lame attempt to leave them alone together but Sirius didn't argue against it. He nodded simply to them and the three boys hurried off in the direction that Marlene had come from. It was the first time that she had been truly alone with him since that day by the lake and her stomach twisted with nerves as she could sense his gaze upon her. She avoided looking at him and briefly wondered how she could possibly manage to evade him now. She knew that it was only wishful thinking; Sirius had the definite advantage if he wanted it.

"Well if you'll excuse me," she said hastily as she attempted to dart around his figure but Sirius was much too quick for her and his hand shot out to grab her arm.

"Marlene, wait!" an electric shot coursed through her body at his touch and she willed herself to ignore the painful desire she suddenly had to kiss him. His grip on her arm had tightened and he pulled her in towards him almost instinctively. She had to crane her head up to look into his face to realize that there were only a few inches apart.

"Sirius, don't," she whispered painfully. She closed her eyes and imagined what it would feel like for his strong arms to wrap around her and pull her into a comforting embrace, to smell his strong familiar earthy scent that she breathed every time her face was buried into his chest. She craved his touch and every ounce of her body was screaming at her to lunge into his arms and knot her hands into his silky hair, pulling him in for such a passionate kiss that it made her knees feel weak at the memory of the last time they had shared such an intimate moment. But that seemed like a lifetime ago now and she forced herself to take a step away from him.

"Just let me talk to you, let me explain …" his voice was low and desperate and the sadness in his eyes was more than Marlene could bear to take. In her opinion, this conversation was coming much too late and she knew that her avoidance towards him over the last month had played an important of that. She had to avert her eyes away from him and his grip on her arm released her so that he could lift it under her chin, redirecting her face to meet his once again. "I _need _you, Marlene, please?"

She let out a small whimper that was probably a clear indication she was fighting a losing battle and Sirius wasted no time taking advantage of her weakness. Without giving her a chance to react, he closed the gap between them in one fluid motion and for a moment Marlene was left standing shell-shocked in the middle of the corridor before her body gave in and her lips greedily responded to him.

He was running his tongue along her bottom lip, asking for permission. His hands had wound around her waist and he pulled her body closer to him, causing her to gasp against his lips and allowing him entrance. And just that quickly Marlene had completely lost herself in the pleasure of the kiss, forgetting all the reasons why it was completely wrong and letting herself feel all the reasons why it was right. She reached up to tangle her hands in his hair and his hand travelled from her waist to the small of her back, causing her to instinctively arch her small frame closer into his. The familiarity of his tenderness was overwhelming; the passion was just as intoxicating as her memory had remembered and she selfishly craved more.

Sirius's hand trailed up her spine in a soft, teasing motion and her body impulsively quivered momentarily causing her to regain mindfulness of what was happening. And just as quickly as it had begun, Marlene's hands pulled from Sirius's hair and straight into his chest to shove him fiercely away from her.

"No," she breathed heavily as he went flying backwards – a look of incredulous stupor on his face. His eyes still had a trace of desire lingering in their reflection but just as quickly, it was replaced by a look of pure confusion.

"Marlene, what's wrong?"

"I … I can't Sirius," she said timorously. She bit her lip nervously as she watched his face fall back into the same boy she had been so distressed to witness earlier. "We broke up."

"Can we just talk about this?" the pleading tone had returned to his voice and she wanted nothing more than to give in to him. "You've been avoiding me for weeks."

"No Sirius," she said sadly before moving away from him and continuing on towards her intended destination of the Gryffindor common room.

* * *

><p>"I suppose that you could say this is a bitter sweet moment," Marlene noted dolefully from her gaze out of the window of the Hogwarts Express. The last two weeks of term had passed by excruciatingly slow which was only intensified by the constant reminder that she was painfully missing Sirius. He was a constant occurrence in her thoughts which was only intensified after examinations had finished and she had nothing to distract herself from her thoughts of him.<p>

After she had abandoned him in the hallway he had given up any effort to talk with her which only caused her more grief than she had hoped it would. Secretly, she had yearned for him to continue chasing after her but she knew that she was being selfish and even more so childish in wishing for such things. She knew that he had made an effort in reconciling on more than one occasion and she had selfishly pushed him away.

The only thing keeping her relatively sane from thinking too much about their disastrous relationship was the inevitable wait for their exam marks but even after they had received them in the first week of June, she still had yet another week of term to distract her from her miseries.

Lily and Mary had noticeably observed her sudden change in attitude. Believing that she was still hung up on the fact that he had cheated, they were confused as to why she was wasn't focusing on anger instead of the prolonging sadness that followed her around. She felt guilty for continuing to lie about it but she had promised that she would keep Remus's secret and there was no chance she could ever possibly explain what had transpired between Snape and Sirius without giving anything away.

But as their final day at Hogwarts had approached, it was with a heavy heart that she packed her belongings and made the familiar trek to the train platform in Hogsmeade for the long awaited ride to a home that she couldn't find joy to call her own.

"Mum and dad said you can stay as long as you'd like," Lily said happily from her space across the compartment from Marlene. "You know that you're always welcome in our house."

"Thanks," Marlene said wearily. In truth, she wasn't thrilled about the idea of being under the same roof as Lily's happy family. She knew that it was unfair but she couldn't help the pang of bitter jealousy that awakened at the thought of having the constant reminder that her parents were dead.

Uncle Tom's was not the most desirable place that she could call her home, but it was far better than the alternative when she considered that it could have just as easily been her Aunt Charis, Uncle Bernie and cousin Marjorie that had taken her in.

"How was the wedding?" the recollection had reminded her of a long forgotten thought. She had been so preoccupied with her own musings that she had forgotten completely about the prospect of her cousin's upcoming nuptials to Lily's sister.

"Mum said it went really well," Lily still sounded bitter and Marlene assumed that the wound was still fresh for her. "She hadn't been able to convince Petunia to reconsider waiting for the summer but I don't suppose it's all that much of a loss for me. She obviously want's nothing to do with me now so I should probably just learn to accept that."

"That's terrible," Mary said sadly from her place beside Lily. Marlene was inclined to agree silently. She knew how desperately Lily wanted to rekindle her relationship with her sister. Marlene could empathize; after having lost the only family she had, she would have given anything in the world to spend just one more minute with them.

"You know that James lives in Godric's Hollow, right?" Lily had changed the subject and Marlene continued to stare out the window at the passing poppy fields without much concern for the meaning behind the statement.

"No I didn't know that," she said with confusion. "Did you want to come see him or something when you visit?"

"No," Lily said firmly, "I mean that James live in Godric's Hollow. You know … that place you now live?"

"So?" Marlene still hadn't taken her gaze off the window and the poppy fields were slowly disappearing as the magnificent scarlet engine carried them across a bridge and over a large ravine; a deep valley descending downwards to a furious river streaming at the base, surrounded by large, jagged rocks and a brilliant waterfall.

"You recall that Sirius lives with the Potters, right?"

"Oh," the sudden realization at where Lily had been going with their conversation flooded her like the rushing waters beneath them. She hadn't ever bothered to ask where the Potter's lived as it had never become relevant before. She knew from her brief time that she had spent in the small village, that it was home to many old and prestigious wizarding families and it only made sense that the Potter's would call it home. It also wasn't a very big village; she was bound to run into the boys sooner or later.

"Do they know that you're living there now?" Mary asked curiously.

"I don't know why they would," Marlene said while shrugging her shoulders. "But it is a small place and I imagine that they'll find out eventually."

"What are you going to do?" Mary was only attempting to make polite conversation but it wasn't something Marlene wanted to dwell too much on. She had spent too much time thinking about Sirius and the direction that their conversation had headed was making her head and heart ache.

"I don't know, but I don't really want to think about it, okay?" she tried to sound firm without hurtful but she imagined that her tone had come off a little harsher than she had intended. Mary and Lily didn't further pursue the conversation though and Marlene went back to admiring the beautiful countryside surroundings that passed by her window.

They were interrupted a short while later by a sharp rapping on their compartment door. Mary bounded hastily to open it in the hopes that it was the witch with the snack trolley but she let out a groan of sadness when it flung open to reveal Remus.

"No offense Remus," she said when his face flickered at her reaction. "I was just really in the mood for some licorice wands."

"Mind if I speak to Marlene alone for a minute?" he said with an apologetic smile. Lily didn't look very surprised and excused herself with the explanation of prefect duties. This reason was clearly farfetched as Remus, her fellow prefect, was standing in their doorway with no apparent inclination to join her. Mary followed behind almost unhappily but Remus thanked them with a genuinely brilliant smile as they departed the compartment.

"Please don't tell me that you're here to talk to me about Black," Marlene said with defensiveness. She hadn't anticipated being cornered about him again, least of all by Remus, but she couldn't fathom what other reason he might have for visiting her so close to London.

"No I'm not here for Sirius," he said nervously. He hesitated in the doorframe before stepping inside and closing it behind him. He glanced towards the empty seat across from her and with a dejected sigh, Marlene ushered for him to have a seat and join her.

"What can I do for you, Remus?" she tried her best to sound interested but her mind wasn't quite in the mood for conversation.

"I wanted to talk to you about, well you know…" his voice trailed off nervously and it took Marlene a few moments to understand what he meant.

"OH!" she exclaimed with surprise. She hadn't realized that they hadn't come face to face with each other over the incidence of the last full moon.

"Sirius told me what happened," he said ruefully. He looked quite nervous and Marlene wondered if he was afraid of what she thought of him. "And James told me that he talked to you."

"I won't tell anyone, Remus, I swear it! I haven't said a single thing to anyone!"

"I trust you," he smiled politely but his eyes looked sad, "I just wanted to explain."

"Explain what?" Marlene was confused. "Remus you don't have to explain anything to me, I don't care what you are, and I could never judge you for something out of your control."

"I'm a monster," he said quietly and her heart ached for him.

"No you're not," she said softly. "You are Remus Lupin, an incredible wizard, and even more remarkable friend. Monster isn't quite the word I would use to describe that."

"I appreciate that Marlene," his smile widened slightly but it still did not quite reach his eyes. "I was bitten as a small child. Professor Dumbledore was kind enough to let me come to Hogwarts but of course certain precautions needed to take place before it was safe to do so. After what happened last month, I don't really know if safe is a word used to describe my presence at Hogwarts."

"You couldn't possibly have known what Sirius was going to do," she said defensively. "You couldn't have known that I would be stupid enough to follow after and put myself in that sort of danger. This isn't your fault Remus, you didn't do anything wrong here."

"I wouldn't have been able to forgive myself if something had happened to either one of you," he said bitterly. "When the boys found out I thought they would abandon me. They proved to be so much more than just my friends. They've spent years trying to figure out a way to help me cope with this sickness and we've become careless in the process. I'm not technically supposed to leave the shack, but every full moon when they join me we run around the forest like careless children, not knowing any better. But we do, know better that is. And I've been horribly selfish allowing myself to be such a danger. I see now that that is wrong and I apologize for my part in this."

"As long as you're not apologizing for what you are," Marlene said hastily. "Don't you ever apologize for who you are, Remus Lupin, don't you ever dare!"

"Thanks Marlene," he said despondently and she knew that he was still incredibly beaten over the whole ordeal. "You have a great summer, okay?"

"You too, Remus," she smiled as he moved to leave the compartment, shutting the door firmly behind him and his footsteps disappearing down the corridor.

By the time the Hogwarts Express pulled into Platform 9 ¾ at Kings Cross in London Marlene was so incredibly exhausted that she had an extremely difficult time peeling herself from their shared compartment to collect her belongings.

The girls were some of the last few students to disembark the train and Marlene was content to notice that the boys appeared nowhere to be seen when they shifted their way through the remaining stragglers on the platform in search of their family members.

"Remember what I said about coming to visit," Lily insisted firmly after they had spotted her parents and she had gathered Marlene into an affectionate hug goodbye. "You let me know anytime if you'd like to stay for a while."

"Absolutely," Marlene said simply but she knew that she had no immediate plans to accept Lily's offer. The girls bid goodbye to one another as Lily and Mary disappeared with their parents and Marlene was left walking towards a solemn looking Uncle Tom who was slouched slightly in one of the benches near the exit.

"It's been a long time since I've seen that train," he said with admiration. He was looking at the scarlet engine with incredulity and smiled proudly up at her when he shifted his attention from it to focus on her face. "I never planned on having kids of my own so I suppose it never made much sense to dwell on the fact. Funny how life happens, isn't it?"

Despite the words he used to describe it, 'funny' wasn't particularly a word she would have chosen to define the cards they had been dealt. Nevertheless she was happier to see him than she thought she would be and he insisted heavily on helping her with her trunk as they made their way to the hidden barrier that separated the magical platform from the muggle world.

"Ready for summer?" he asked tentatively. "I know Godric's Hollow wasn't the nicest when you last visited, but it sure has some beautiful summers. There are a few kids around your age in the area too, I'm sure you probably know some of them from school so hopefully things won't be too boring for you."

Marlene smiled ruefully. She knew exactly which students he was referring too and, unbeknownst to him, she had a summer ritual of avoiding the sun at all costs. This year, it seemed, there would be more than one reason to stay indoors.


	21. Part Two: Chapter One

The sun beamed in through the half closed curtains and scattered across the wooden floor, pooling at the edge of the metal framework of Marlene's double bed that lay tucked away neatly in the corner of her new bedroom. The room, apart from the streak of sunlight, was dim from a lack of muggle electricity, and was silent as Marlene lay contentedly sprawled out across the cool covers.

Marlene had been doing a rather decent job at avoiding her days outside. If possible, her skin had paled even slightly more than could be considered healthy and she was constantly battling with her Uncle Tom on whether or not she was ill because of it.

She had been home for summer holidays for just over a month and had been content to do nothing but spend her days curled up in bed or on the couch reading or daydreaming off into space about nothing in particular. She knew that she was being silly; trapping herself indoors so that she could avoid the sun was one thing, but she knew that that was not the real reason why she refused to step outside the confinements of her house.

After she had arrived in Godric's Hollow she had had little to distract her thoughts from Sirius. She was at first irritated with the notion that James Potter had been right. After awhile, it became painfully evident that there was a reason why he was one of the top students of their year; he was definitely much smarter than he would let up and the conversation they had shared in the library a few months prior was enough evidence to convince her that his common sense could quite easily match his ego.

_I don't think Sirius is the only guilty party here, McKinnon. Perhaps you should mull that over for a while. _His voice still rang sharply in her ears and stung like a fresh wound each time she replayed the words in her memory.

After awhile she managed to realize that her normally level headedness had gone awry on Sirius after she had confronted him about Remus. The truth, she discovered, was that he really did have good reason to be angry towards her for her actions and it was completely unfair for her to blame him solely for what had transpired between them. She was still adamant that he had mishandled his behavior towards her; she was not an emotional punching bag and his moodiness towards her in the weeks leading up to the full moon was not just. However, she had dug her nose into business that was not her own and she had put herself and others in danger and for that, he had had every right to be cross with her.

The worst realization that had finally sunk in about a week after she had allowed herself to actually mull things over was that Sirius had tried to reconcile with her, tried to explain, and she had shot him down the opportunity because she was too absorbed in her own superiority complex.

Initially she had found comfort in the belief that by avoiding Sirius, this indicated that she was 'moving on' from their breakup. She had been fooling herself into believing that. Perhaps it was a mask to cover up the insecurities she truly felt about the whole ordeal, something she was beginning to come to terms with the more she dwelled on it. She had allowed herself to open herself up to him during a time that she was most vulnerable and in a moment of self sabotage, she had found every excuse imaginable not to let him back in.

Of course this conclusion didn't offer Marlene any comfort. She knew that she still cared deeply for Sirius and that she had made a terrible and rash mistake with how she had handled things. She knew that she had caused irrevocable damage to their relationship and she didn't know how to move forward. She should be so lucky if he decided to ever give her the time of day again after the way she pushed him away, literally, during their last encounter.

So as the summer days passed, and Uncle Tom had insisted each day that she get out and socialize with the neighborhood kids, Marlene had managed to use up every imaginable excuse in the book as to why she couldn't possibly go outside. She was sure that he was finally starting to catch on to her antics as he had finally stopped pushing the suggestion and for that she had been thankful.

She had caught a glimpse of the boys one afternoon as they had walked past the window of her living room. It had actually been a fluke and Marlene had taken a brief moment to tear her eyes away from her novel to gaze out the window, contemplating whether or not going for a walk would be a good idea. That's when she saw the familiar mop of unruly black hair of James Potter and she could hear the energetic and eager laughter of Sirius Black a moment before his face came into view.

Her heart had stopped beating for a fraction of a second before she flung herself away from the window and back into the novel that she had carelessly let fall into her lap. It had been affirmation for her that she was still not prepared to see him.

At the beginning of the summer she had thought she was avoiding the boys for the sheer convenience of limiting any awkward tension. Of course now she realized all along that she had been selfishly too afraid to confront him for fear of rejection. Ironically, she was certain she was much deserving of it yet too cowardly to admit it to anyone but herself. And so each passing day, she continued to keep to herself, determined that she would either get over the feelings of guilt or bury them deep enough that she could pretend they had never existed. After all, unless she was comfortable making a complete idiot of herself, confronting Sirius and admitting any of this didn't seem like a desirable solution. Hopefully, she would be able to think of something before the beginning of term but until then she was content to place her troubles on the shelf and get through her summer without much more thought on the matter.

Lily's owl had been the thing to wake her from a nap during this particular sunny afternoon and she was both appreciative and scornful that it had done so. She hadn't heard from Lily in a few weeks so she was glad to finally be getting a response to the letter she had sent her but she was also distressed that the impeccable timing of the owl had awoken her only fifteen minutes after she had fallen asleep.

Marlene had thrown herself back on the bed in hopes of catching a few more winks of sleep but after tossing and turning for a good thirty minutes she had given up and ripped open the manila envelope to admire the familiar and elegant scrawl of her best friend Lily Evans.

_Marlene,_

_Happy Birthday! Finally seventeen and a true full-fledged witch of age at last! I hope you don't get yourself into too much trouble today, but knowing you I think I am safe to assume that you won't. _

_I'm glad to hear that you are having a 'fairly decent' summer but I also know that you are probably lying to me and you've holed yourself up in your bedroom and refuse to do anything else. I know that you don't want to see Sirius but the fact of the matter is that you two have broken up nearly two months ago and you need to stop focusing on it. I really wish you'd stop thinking that you need to make yourself miserable in order to move on from him but I'm sure Sirius is quite over it already and you need to do the same. Sorry if that sounds harsh, I am just not a fan of what he did to you and sooner or later you will finally see it the way I do._

_I just received news from school that I received the Head Girl position! I knew that all those extra hours I put in with my prefect duties and time spent studying would finally pay off. The letter didn't mention who they named Head Boy but I am betting on Remus. _

_Mum is calling me for lunch now so I should probably wrap this up. Try not to mope too much around for the rest of the summer and get yourself outside for once before you become so translucent that you vanish into thin air. Also, my offer still stands if you'd like to visit. Hope you have a brilliant birthday and I will talk to you soon._

_Love Lily_

Marlene had nearly forgotten it was her birthday until the letter had arrived. She scowled as she reread the lines Lily had wrote regarding Sirius and resisted the urge to write back a piece of her mind. She had to battle with her subconscious and remind herself that Lily did not know the true reasons for their breakup and if she had, she would most probably have a different opinion on the situation. Oh what she wouldn't give to be able to pick Lily's brain on this one. It was driving her batty not being able to talk to anyone about her feelings.

Lily's letter was followed shortly after by one from Mary and then, to her surprise, she had received a third manila envelope with the neat scribble of a familiar someone that she hadn't been anticipating hearing from: Sirius.

_Marlene,_

_Happy Birthday. _

_SB_

_Sirius isn't a bad guy; you're missing out if you continue to believe that._ There was that annoying voice of James again and she frowned ever so slightly as that familiar wave of guilt rushed over her. He had remembered her Birthday and more importantly, he had been kind enough to send her a note.

Her fingers felt something else lying in the bottom of the envelope and she poured out the contents into her hand. She let out a small gasp when her eyes focused on a small silver pendant in the shape of a star. It glittered slightly, getting caught in the stream of light from the window as she held it up to admire it. Like the note, it was quite simple but it was also very beautiful and looked rather expensive.

Marlene forced herself off the comfort of her mattress and padded over towards the mirror on her bureau. She lifted the pendant to her neck and admired its slight glimmer against the paleness of her torso.

_Just go talk to him. _

The thought had popped into her head on more than one occasion since her revelations about her feelings. Clearly, he wasn't angry with her otherwise he wouldn't have sent her such a beautiful gift. As she stared at the beautiful trinket she could feel a momentary glimmer of excitement that perhaps Sirius would still be interested in reconciliation. But she squandered the thought almost before she had even had a chance to process that it had crossed her mind at all. She couldn't will herself to hope that it meant anything more than a kind gesture for fear she might set herself up for disappointment. She hastily shoved it back into the envelope along with the note and tossed it on to her dresser, much like her feelings, to deal with later.

_Stop avoiding him. _

"Shut up Potter," she muttered out loud to the imaginary voice inside her head.

She took the opportunity while standing in front of the mirror, to contemplate her reflection. Lily's assessment of becoming translucent wasn't too far off; her skin was so pale that she looked almost sickly and the blonde hair that hung straight down to her mid back didn't help from washing her out even more. Her eyes were bright and striking though, which she believed was a good enough distraction from everything else she disliked about herself.

Going down stairs she wasn't surprised to find the house empty and a note on the kitchen table indicated that Uncle Tom had needed to head into the Ministry for some unexpected work. She wasn't quite sure what exactly it was that he did for the Ministry of Magic, but she was aware that it was quite confidential and he rarely spoke of it at home.

_You'll have to make yourself something to eat – there's not much in the fridge but I think there might be some leftover casserole. -Tom_

Marlene shuddered at the thought of the leftover casserole. In all of his years of bachelorhood, it was apparent that he was quite uneducated when it came to cooking. She could tell that she had lost a little bit of weight since the beginning of summer as her clothes were fitting much looser than she remembered. Part of this was due in fact to his horrendous cooking. Even with magic most of the meals that he tried to prepare had come out disastrous and she resorted to nibbling on snacks throughout the day instead. After the first week he had mostly given up cooking dinner and the two of them generally prepared their own sandwiches or scrounged around the pantry for things that could be easily considered edible. Marlene didn't mind much though; her appetite had really dispersed over the past few months and the lack of home cooked meals didn't bother her like it once might have, most likely due to the fact it was a painful reminder of a home she no longer had.

Her stomach rumbled at the thought of food and she realized that she hadn't actually eaten since breakfast. A glance at the clock indicated that it was already four thirty; much later than she had originally anticipated. When she opened the fridge she was greeted with the nauseating stench of the leftover casserole from three days ago and she had to plug her nose and hold back a gag as the smell made its way into her nostrils.

There wasn't much else for food in the fridge and she quickly closed it shut, mentally noting that she should probably clear out the casserole before it became any worse. The panty and cupboards also proved to be rather bare and Marlene sighed heavily with the realization that she was probably going to have to head to the deli down the street if she was interested in eating.

The second rumble in her stomach caused Marlene to let out a dejected sigh. She headed up to her bedroom on the second floor and grabbed some muggle money that Uncle Tom had given her for such occasions before heading back down and out into the street outside.

Godric's Hollow was a small village that was made up primarily of wizarding families but there were a few muggle's that had taken up residence as well. The town was quite small and Marlene had only briefly gotten a glimpse of it when they had arrived back from King's Cross at the end of the school year. There was a post office and a pub with a handful of retail shops, a church, a small grocery store and a deli. Apart from that there were dozens of quaint little houses that lined the streets.

Marlene wandered down the lane quietly pondering her surroundings. She hadn't been brave enough to venture out yet so she wasn't entirely sure where the shops were located but due to the sheer size of the community she gathered that it wouldn't be hard to find her way.

It only took her about ten minutes to make her way into the village square and the deli was located conveniently on the corner beside the grocery store. When she entered in through the small shop door, her presence was indicated by a tiny tinkering bell and the rickety creak of the old wooden door closing behind her. The shop was filled with about a dozen patrons and even had an attractive patio that overlooked the bustling street.

"What can I get for you dear?" an elderly woman greeted her from the counter with a cheerful smile and Marlene was quick to notice that she was missing a couple of her front teeth.

"Er," Marlene looked around willfully and settled on a ham and cheese croissant with tea. The lady helping her was extremely friendly despite her less than welcoming appearance and as Marlene settled into one of the tables on the patio, she discovered that she made excellent food as well.

The tea was a welcomed change for Marlene as Uncle Tom's house rarely consisted of anything but water and fire whiskey. After she had finished her croissant she had finally deemed the tea cool enough to drink without scalding her lips and settled back into her chair to enjoy the view around her. Marlene spent her time watching the people passing by; shopping with their loved ones, children playing in the center fountain and even an elderly couple arguing about what type of bread they should have purchased.

"Good evening Mrs. Potter," a pleasant voice drifted into her ears and Marlene choked slightly on the mouthful of tea that she had brought to her lips. It spluttered out in front of her across the table and she looked around apologetically but nobody else within her vicinity seemed to have noticed.

"Good evening August," the unfamiliar voice of an older woman responded and Marlene whirled her head in the direction to which it had come.

There was an older lady standing outside the doors of the deli holding a couple of grocery bags but she seemed far older than what Marlene assumed to be James' mother. However, upon closer inspection she had the same twinkling brown eyes and very similar features to that of her son and despite the near greyness of her hair, Marlene could tell that it had once been the same jet black.

"Harold isn't helping you out this evening?" the man speaking with her appeared to be considerably years younger but not much older than that of her Uncle Tom. He seemed to be a pleasant man and he had even ushered over to the deli door to hold it open for a mother holding her small infant in the midst of his conversation.

"Harold has other priorities," Mrs. Potter said humorously. She didn't seem annoyed at her husband's lack of presence but instead the twinkle in her eyes glistened further. "You know how he is when sports are on."

"Oh yes," the man nodded in agreement. "I forgot the Bulgaria match was on this evening."

Marlene could tell instantly that they were referring to Quidditch. To an ordinary muggle they probably wouldn't have picked up on the unusualness of their conversation but Marlene knew better.

"How are the children?" Mrs. Potter asked graciously.

"They're well, thank you!" the man seemed to light up at the mention of his kids. "Rose just had her baby a few weeks ago, our first grandchild as you know and Patrick just finished his training at St. Mungo's. Evelyn and I are extremely proud."

"I imagine so," Mrs. Potter chimed in. "Congratulations all around!"

"How about those boys of yours?" the man laughed briefly at the humored look that crossed Mrs. Potter's elegant features. "Have they been staying out of trouble?"

"Oh you know those two," she said with a chuckle.

"Do you need some help with your bags?" he asked suddenly after Mrs. Potter shifted her weight slightly to adjust one of the bags that she had been holding. "Your house isn't that far from mine and I'm heading home anyways. It wouldn't be any trouble to walk you there."

"Oh gracious no, August," Mrs. Potter said appreciatively. "The boys should be meeting me here any minute."

Marlene took that as her cue to head home. She didn't fancy the notion of running into James and Sirius where she had nowhere to hide and especially in a place that she was completely unfamiliar with. Despite her most recent epiphany, she did not fancy the idea of a run in while she was ill prepared for such an occasion. She gathered up her tea cup and plate and hurriedly headed into the deli shop where the conversation between Mrs. Potter and August didn't meet her ears.

After thanking the shop owner and placing her dirty dishes on the countertop she hurriedly reached for the doorknob to exit into the street. She could see the shape of Mrs. Potter still standing off to the side of the deli patio where she had been watching her earlier and she couldn't help but feel the sense of apprehension that overtook her as her hand grasped the handle.

She was being silly though, Mrs. Potter didn't know who she was nor would she be capable of recognizing her. She stood no risk of being detected by the older woman. She brushed off the uneasy feeling of being caught and quickly pulled open the door and stepped out into the street.

"Marlene?"

The sickening pit in the bottom of her stomach opened wide and swallowed her whole. She could feel her eyes widen with her shock and her body went rigid at the realization that she hadn't been quite quick enough and had walked straight into the pathway of James and Sirius. She had been so focused on whether or not Mrs. Potter would recognize her she had failed to look out the shop window at whether or not the boys were within sight.

She turned slowly on her heel to face them and noted that the look of incredulity that lined each of their faces indicated they had no prior knowledge of her presence in Godric's Hollow. However, this did nothing to make her feel any less awkward.

_I'm not ready for this! _The thought crossed her mind briefly. She had been neglecting to think about this moment for weeks and now that she was staring into the eyes of a very surprised Sirius Black she realized that she should have been better prepared about what she would finally say to him.

"Hi," she managed to splutter out submissively. She could feel the heat rising to her cheeks with sheer embarrassment towards her predicament and hoped that her fluster wasn't noticeable.

"What are you doing here?" it was James that spoke first though and her thoughts on Sirius were momentarily forgotten as she diverted her gaze to meet James'.

"Er, I live here," she said quietly. She wondered how fake it would sound for her to pretend like she didn't know they resided here too. Thankfully, her brain was a step ahead of where she had thought it would be in her state of sheer panic and she did not voice this out loud.

"You live here?" he sounded confused and she assumed it probably seemed rather odd to him that she had been living within their vicinity for the majority of the summer without them knowing. Of course this had been due to the fact that, until today, she hadn't stepped outside the threshold of her Uncle Tom's cottage but she wasn't prepared to divulge this information to them willingly.

"Oh there they are!" Mrs. Potter's voice rang in through Marlene's ears and the shuffling of footsteps closed in from behind her. "I was wondering if you boy's had forgotten about me. Who's your friend?"

"This is Marlene, she's in Gryffindor with us," James said quickly and Marlene turned her body around to face the woman she had been observing before.

She was definitely as old as Marlene had guessed her to be from a distance but it didn't make her any less attractive. Her bright brown eyes shone with excitement as James introduced them to one another and her smile was genuinely cheerful when she acknowledged her presence.

"Oh you're the McKinnon girl then?" she said happily, "I know your Godfather Tom from church, he mentioned that you were coming to live with him this summer but I dare say it slipped my mind."

"Yes," Marlene acknowledged with a polite nod. She wasn't quite sure what else to say as she could feel two sets of eyes boring into the back of her head from where James and Sirius stood behind her.

"You never mentioned that before," James said in an almost accusatory tone towards his mother. Marlene felt a sense of annoyance to the manner that he had used.

"You know what old age does to me James," she said laughing it off, "now if you wouldn't mind grabbing some of these bags and helping your poor mother out."

Despite his lack of respect to his mother only moments before, James and Sirius were quick to leap forward and grab a couple of the bags from her arms.

"It was lovely seeing you again August," she said merrily to the man behind her before giving a polite wave and indicating to her son that she was in a hurry to get home to start on dinner. "I'm very glad to have met you Marlene," she turned her attention back towards Marlene and offered another cheerful smile, "I don't suppose you'd like to join us for dinner this evening? I saw that Tom was in an awful hurry to get to the Ministry earlier and mentioned that he wouldn't be back until quite late."

"Oh I just grabbed a quick bite to eat at the deli," Marlene said hastily. She wasn't quite sure what to say to the generosity from a complete stranger but she wasn't sure that accepting, and being subjected to the company of James and Sirius for the rest of the evening when she had spent the majority of her summer avoiding them, was the best idea.

"Are you sure, we have plenty of room for one more, and I dare you say you look like you could use a good meal," Mrs. Potter insisted after looking her up and down and the look on her face made it incredibly difficult to decline. James was looking at her expectantly and Marlene couldn't even bring herself to look at Sirius to know what his thoughts on the matter were.

"Er – " Marlene hesitated.

"Excellent!" Mrs. Potter exclaimed and began bustling down the street in the direction of the Potter's home. Marlene wasn't quite sure that she had accepted but it was evident to her now that it would be rude not to follow.

"She likes entertaining," finally Sirius had spoken up from his silence beside her and Marlene almost jumped as she hadn't been expecting it. "And she makes a mean pot-roast."

The Potter's lived in a rather large house nestled on the outskirts of the village in the opposite direction to her Uncle Tom's. When they had neared the end of the long curvy road leading up to the estate, Marlene felt a sharp intake of breath as she admired the large, old manor in front of her. It was clearly very old but in immaculate condition with ivy creeping elegantly up the side of the stone work. The entire property was surrounded by neatly trimmed stone hedge and a large iron gate separated the property from the street.

"It's beautiful," Marlene said earnestly when they approached the house. "You live here?"

"Yes," James said proudly and he opened the gate for his mother and Marlene to pass through.

The inside of the house was just as magnificent to admire as the outside. When she had learned that James had come from wealth she had never quite pictured how well off his family had been. The decorations within the house were not over the top but emphasized the richness and elegance of their lifestyle with just enough class to give off the impression they had money, but not enough that screamed they were better than anyone else.

"Why don't the two of you show her around while I start on dinner," Mrs. Potter chimed in from the foyer. She had caught Marlene's look of astonishment when they had entered in through the front doors.

"Sirius?" James asked lazily as if he was passing off an unwanted task. Marlene scowled briefly at him which he either didn't catch or decided to willfully ignore. "I'm going to see what dad's up to."

"Watching the game most likely," Mrs. Potter mumbled as she disappeared off towards the kitchen.

James didn't wait for Sirius to answer before bounding down the hall and out of sight, leaving the two of them standing rather ineptly alone in the front foyer. Marlene had her arms crossed over her chest almost defensively while she looked down towards her feet in embarrassment. How had she managed to get herself into such a predicament? All for a bloody ham and cheese sandwich.

"Happy birthday," he said simply and Marlene chanced a glance up at him. He was smiling politely at her and it seemed that he wasn't feeling the least bit awkward in her presence. The last time she had seen him before end of term he had looked so crushed and defeated. This Sirius was just as gloriously handsome as he had ever been without as much as a trace of a concern on his features which made it incredibly difficult for her to know what he might be thinking.

"Thanks," she muttered shyly and focused her eyes on anything that wasn't Sirius.

"Did you get the necklace?" he asked curiously. Marlene felt a sudden pang of guilt at the recollection that she had tossed it carelessly on to her dresser earlier in the day but she didn't know whether or not it was acceptable to wear such an item from an ex-boyfriend.

"I can't possibly accept that," she breathed heavily and his smile faltered.

"You didn't like it?" he seemed let down and Marlene felt a sense of overwhelming guilt.

"No I loved it," she said honestly, "but I can't accept it. It must have cost you a fortune."

Sirius shrugged. It didn't seem to bother him in the least.

"Want to see the house?" he asked instead.

The house wasn't quite as big as it had looked on the outside but it was still twice as large as the one that Marlene had lived in when her parents were alive. He had shown her the main floor first but they had skirted past the den where James and Mr. Potter were fervently engaged over a heated Quidditch match that was playing over the large magically enchanted radio. He showed her the courtyard next and Marlene was pleasantly pleased to discover the immaculate countryside view they had from their backyard. The Potter's had a large section of land backing out from their house that looked like a Quidditch player's dream.

"Perfect for practice," Sirius had indicated towards it, confirming Marlene's thoughts.

Afterwards he had taken her up the long spiraling staircase where the upper landing was filled with bed room after bedroom. They had passed by James room first and Marlene was disgusted to see just how filthy and disorganized a teenage boy could be with his belongings. If she had ever believed to have had a messy room back when she lived with her parents, hers was nothing in comparison to what his looked like.

They arrived at Sirius's last. He was situated at the far end of the hall, much further away from the rest of the Potters and Marlene wondered briefly why he wanted to seclude himself to the furthest edge of the house. When he opened the door for her to peer in she could immediately tell why; his room had twice as many windows as the other bedrooms and it was a corner room that overlooked the glorious courtyard below. The sun was just starting to set on the horizon and the glow in his room made the oak paneling on the walls gleam with magnificence. His room gave off quite the elaborate feeling of grandeur.

Marlene was also happy to note, that his room was much neater and organized than James had been and she was actually almost ashamed to admit that it was probably better kept than she had ever managed to keep her own.

"It has the nicest view in the house," Sirius said solemnly from the doorway from behind her. She hadn't realized but she had drifted inwards slightly and was staring out at the sunset.

"It's a beautiful room," Marlene said sincerely.

"Why didn't you tell me you were living here?" he asked quite suddenly and for the first time all evening she felt the first glimmers of entrapment. He was standing, blocking her exit path in the doorway and she knew that she wasn't possibly going to avoid him and he was taking full advantage of it. She couldn't blame him though; she knew that this was inevitable.

"I didn't think it was relevant," she lied through her teeth. She should have known better; she was always a terrible liar and the dubious look on Sirius's face told her he could see right through it. Despite the logical part of her brain telling her that this was the perfect opportunity to clear the air, she couldn't help the small part of her that continued to revert back to self sabotage mode.

"Right," he raised his eyebrows and moved away from the doorframe to sit comfortably on his bed. He kicked his legs up across the length of the bed and rested his hands behind his head against the pillow with a look of expectancy at Marlene. She shifted uncomfortably from where she was standing as his eyes bore into her from across the room but she willed herself not to let him get the best of her.

"I'm really not quite sure what difference it makes to you," she didn't know why she was feeling defensive but she was feeling uncharacteristically brave and her assertiveness seemed to startle him momentarily as he looked contemplative.

"Where you are concerned," he said softly after a moment, "it always makes a difference."

Sirius couldn't possibly know how his words made her heart flutter with hope. However, she could feel the blush creep her cheeks and she knew instantly that she would become an open book for Sirius to read. His face relaxed slightly and a playful smile had started tugging at the corner of his lips as he continued to watch her from his position on the bed. She mentally cursed at herself, annoyed that she had allowed him to see the effect he had on her. She had wanted to project an image of calm and collected and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to control the uneasiness that was causing her to act like a stumbling school girl. Sirius seemed to be enjoying her discomfort however, he was watching her intently and she couldn't help but feel like she deserved it.

"I don't suppose you've been avoiding me?" he continued on sincerely and Marlene ached for the comfort of her bedroom where she wouldn't have to feel the sweat gathering in the palms of her hands from her nerves.

"Why would I be avoiding you?" she tried to sound apathetic but she knew that she hadn't been very successful. Where Sirius was concerned, he was too good at being able to read her emotions and she knew that quite soon she would be an evidently nervous wreck within his presence if this conversation continued down the path she feared it was headed.

"I don't think it makes much sense to pretend Marlene," he confirmed her suspicions to which she scowled at him with defensiveness. Against her wishes he suddenly removed himself from the bed and swiftly moved across the room to stand in front of her. She instinctively felt herself take a step backwards as he neared and she watched his brows crease with frustration as he noticed her movement. "I don't want to go an entire year like this."

"Like what?" she knew the question was stupid before it had even left her lips.

"You side stepping around me every time we are in the same room," he said sadly and for a short moment she was able to see the emotions clearly in his grey eyes. He was clearly still upset about how things had ended. "I understand that you have your reasoning for breaking up with me, but that doesn't mean we have to avoid each other like the plague. You obviously wanted nothing more than friendship from me and I will respect that. I've come to terms with that decision."

Marlene could feel her inner self battling with the sudden range of emotions that had surfaced. Despite the better part of her that had been fighting it, she had to admit to herself that she been missing Sirius like crazy; the need for his closeness, his tender touch and the feel of his lips upon hers was driving her absolutely mad and was enhanced drastically by the fact that he was close enough to her that she could feel the pulsating heat from his body radiating off of him. But his words struck Marlene like a bag of bricks to her chest. She took a sharp intake of breath and hoped that he hadn't noticed how his words had affected her.

Whatever Marlene had been hoping for out of their conversation, she knew that this wasn't it. What had she expected? She was selfish to believe that he could possibly still want anything to do with her and yet the sinking realization of what he was saying confirmed all along that she had truly hoped there was a possibility of a reconciliation in their future. He had come to terms with her decision. This seemed like affirmation to her that any hope his gift had brought to her, even slightly in her subconscious, was in fact a gesture of his request for friendship and not out of romantic interest.

"What are you guys doing?" James voice asked curiously from the doorway and Marlene felt a mixture of gratitude and annoyance for the interruption. She wasn't quite sure how well composed her next words to Sirius would have been.

"We were just talking," Sirius said with a shrug of his shoulders. He seemed unfazed by their previous conversation as he casually made his way towards the door. "I can smell dinner from up her. I hope that your presence means that dinner is ready?"

"Your nose is too good sometimes," James smiled crookedly. "Almost has animal instincts, it does."

She probably wouldn't have understood the underlying humor to James' statement earlier but due to recent events in the last month or so she had discovered that Sirius's animal animagus was that of a dog. She cracked a small smile at the comment before joining the boys on the way down to the dining room for dinner. She forced herself to push aside the disappointment that had been brewing in the pit of her stomach, determined to convince herself that this outcome was far superior to any other that could have possibly transpired and to be thankful that Sirius at least still wanted to be friends.


	22. Part Two: Chapter Two

Sirius had been right; Mrs. Potter was an excellent cook and Marlene had even helped herself to seconds, unable to get enough. It had been quite a while since she had last eaten a solid meal and by the time she was finished her stomach was aching slightly from being too full.

She offered to help with cleanup after dinner but as she was no longer underage and the Potter's miraculously relied heavily on magic throughout their day, the task didn't take nearly as long as it would have had they done it the muggle way like she had been raised on.

She joined Sirius and James in the study after dinner to allow Mr. and Mrs. Potter their private tea time; something they liked to indulge themselves with in the courtyard after supper as their often hectic schedules prevented them from seeing each other often.

"So did Lily get head girl" James asked eagerly from the sofa he had been lounging on. He was tossing a golden snitch up into the air and catching it quickly with such reflex that Marlene wondered why he had decided to play the position of chaser on the Gryffindor team.

"She did," Marlene nodded at him. She was curled up in a large arm chair across from him with Sirius sitting in the opposite one beside her, fiddling idly with his wand.

"Excellent," James' face lit up brightly and he stopped playing with the snitch long enough to flash Marlene a glorious grin. She couldn't help but feel slightly uneasy by it, as though his mind was racing with the thought of some mischievous prank.

"Why exactly is that excellent for you?" Marlene asked out of curiosity. She didn't quite like the grin that had fallen upon James' face.

"Because he's head boy," Sirius said dully from beside her. He hadn't looked up and was still twirling his wand in his right hand, looking deep in thought about something.

Marlene laughed before realizing that Sirius wasn't joking.

"Why is that so hard to believe?" James' face had fallen slightly and Marlene quickly apologized for offending him.

"I just assumed it would be Remus," she said honestly. "To be frank, Potter, you really don't seem to fit the typical description of Head Boy."

"That's what I said," Sirius grinned cheekily and James tossed the snitch in his direction as if to hit him but Sirius had excellent reflexes and ducked in time for the snitch to go buzzing past his head.

"It's getting late," Marlene noted as her eyes had glanced over at the large grandfather clock that rested against the far wall. She hadn't intended to stay so long but she had lost track of time while enjoying the company of James and Sirius. Despite all that had happened, being in the same room as him seemed to have given her a high from an addiction she had been craving for weeks and she couldn't bring herself to step away.

"I'll walk you home," Sirius said quickly before shooting a glance towards James that Marlene did not miss. He smiled but his expression didn't offer much of an explanation to what the look passed between them had indicated.

"You don't have to," she said earnestly but she knew that Sirius would never allow her to walk, unaccompanied, so late after the sun had set. It appeared by James' lack of willingness to move from the couch that he was intending for Sirius to walk her home alone. Even though she secretly craved the chance to spend more time with him she knew that being alone with him left her far too vulnerable. This might be her only opportunity to let him know how she was feeling and the sinking feeling of being ill prepared had returned.

"Don't be silly," Sirius said pointedly. "Of course I have to."

"Bye Potter," she said with a small wave. "Please let your mom know how much I enjoyed her hospitality."

"She'll be expecting you back now," he grinned impishly from the couch but he had caught the snitch that had been hovering around the room and was tossing it back up into the air now.

The Potters weren't anywhere to be seen as Sirius and Marlene headed out of the study and into the foyer. Sirius excused himself briefly to run upstairs and Marlene wondered if it would be wise to take the opportunity to make a dash for her house before he returned.

_Stop avoiding him! _The voice had returned and Marlene knew that it was right.

He was quick though, and soon enough he was skipping two steps at a time down the spiraling staircase with a sweater in his hand. He had already thrown one on and tossed the other to Marlene which she caught with ease.

"It's been getting a bit chilly out at night," he said simply to her questioning look.

"Thanks," she muttered quietly and Sirius offered her a genuine smile.

The sweater smelled of Sirius and she was mentally cursing as she slipped it over her head and her mind became dazed with the familiar musky scent. She breathed it in and became well aware that all she could think of now was how much she longed for his closeness. She knew that she needed to tell him how she felt and she needed to do it soon.

They walked quietly along the winding path back towards the village square in silence but the presence of Sirius's company wasn't awkward but rather familiarly comforting.

"Are you ready for seventh year?" she found herself the first to break the silence. She had hoped that by starting the conversation she might be able to control the direction of the discussion and she was too aware that his close proximity and the aura of his sweater were clouding her head with thoughts she was still scared to welcome. Maybe idle chit chat would be a good way to ease into the conversation? Marlene knew that she was fooling herself; she was stalling again.

"With James as Head Boy?" he smirked at her and picked up instantly on his intentions.

"Don't you dare exploit his position of power," she said with a laugh, "Lily will have your head."

"Evans doesn't scare me," his smirk widened before he added "but of course Prongs will be too busy trying to prove to her how mature he's gotten since receiving it that he won't have the time or energy to exert into abusing it."

"Why does he chase after her anyways?" Marlene had never felt the desire to ask but her curiosity was sparked by his comment.

"Why do you think?" Sirius looked at her questioningly and she knew that he wouldn't offer any further information to her until she had given him her answer.

"Because she keeps saying no?" Marlene speculated. She had always assumed that James pursued Lily because she didn't fawn all over him and he enjoyed the thrill of the chase.

"Pretty sure that's what Evans thinks too isn't it?" he said while shaking his head.

"So why does he then?" she pressed after she realized that Sirius wasn't planning to divulge any further.

"Why does a little boy in the school yard pull on the pigtails of the little girl?" he answered her with another question.

"Because he's being annoying," Marlene offered half-jokingly. Sirius shot her a patronizing look.

"Because he likes her and he thinks that the only way to capture her attention is by acting like an idiot."

"That's pretty silly," Marlene pointed out. "Why doesn't he just state the obvious and tell her that he likes her?"

"While I agree that more people should speak what's on their mind instead of leaving things open to interpretation, do you think that in this instance Lily would go out with him if he said 'Hey Evans, I really like you, would you go out with me?'?" Sirius's nature had changed slightly but she couldn't depict whether there was slight annoyance in its undertone.

"Well no," she said obviously. "Not now. If he had started with that before he had gotten under her skin by pestering her for a date all the time, perhaps she wouldn't have assumed he was joking."

"And you think that that would have changed things?" he said skeptically.

"Maybe. But the constant pestering her for a date doesn't help his cause," she insisted further, almost defensively. "I don't know why he thought that harassing her needlessly for years with silly pranks and immature behavior was going to win her over."

"James was young and people change Marlene," he voice was cool and he seemed annoyed "But this is now and we can't go back in time and change the past. Seems sort of silly to think about what if's when we should be focusing on what will be. And if you recall, he hasn't even asked her out since before Christmas holidays."

They had finally reached the center of the village square which was deserted except for their shadows that cast over the stone side walk against the reflecting light from the street lamps. They danced eerily across the stone around them and Marlene let out an unwilling shiver as the quietness of their surroundings reminded her dimly of a deserted town.

"I suppose so," she mused quietly in defeat. What had begun as an innocent conversation had turned a bit heated and she hadn't intended on attacking James' character. In fact, she had noticed the slight change in James' conduct in the last few months but she hadn't really put much thought into why. Lily seemed to be able to tolerate him all that much more which had made spending time with the Marauders more enjoyable.

"Speaking of James," Sirius interrupted her thoughts; his voice was low and she thought she could hear hesitation within his tone. "He interrupted our conversation earlier at the house."

They were walking up the street towards the familiar cottage that belonged to her Uncle Tom and she knew that they only had a matter of minutes before they would arrive on the threshold of her doorstep. She glanced sideways at him and he was looking at her intently, patiently awaiting a reaction. She had been avoiding the inevitable almost the entire way home and he had unknowingly managed to beat her to it.

"I never did get a chance to apologize for what happened at the end of term. I'm sorry that I acted so rash after the whole incident," he said without waiting any longer for her to acknowledge him. "It wasn't fair to you for me to treat you the way that I did. I realized afterwards how insensitive it must have seemed to you. By the time I did, you wanted nothing to do with me and that was an extremely difficult thing to deal with for a long time. I was selfish by not considering your feelings in this and I wanted to apologize for ambushing you in the hallway at the end of term."

Marlene felt her cheeks glow with embarrassment as she was reminded of that brief passionate encounter they had shared during the last time they had spoken.

"You shouldn't be the one apologizing," Marlene quickly interjected. They had arrived at the foot of the walkway to her house and he had swiveled around to face her. "I should have given you the opportunity to explain when you asked for it."

"Perhaps I misread things between us," he continued on and Marlene could feel her heart sinking. _No! _she wanted to cry out to him but her mouth and become dry and the knot in her stomach was tightening. "I shouldn't have waited so long to talk to you but I was just too scared you were going to reject me. And then when I ran into you in the hallway you looked so miserable and I took it as a sign that you were missing me, still wanted me, and I wasn't thinking properly when I kissed you. I shouldn't have done that."

"Sirius – "

"I think you're an amazing person Marlene," he smiled politely at her but wouldn't allow her to get a word in edge wise "and I'd be lying if I said getting over you would be easy. I've spent most of the summer trying and wondering when I would finally get the opportunity to have this conversation with you and how it would play out. I just wanted the opportunity to apologize for my part in this. It wouldn't feel right if I never got the chance to tell you how I felt."

"Sirius, I – " She tried interrupting him again. She knew that her window of opportunity was closing.

"Just let me finish, I need to get this off my chest." He held his hand out to stop her and Marlene obliged hesitantly. "I just wanted to tell you that it's really important to me that we can continue being friends. You've become such an important part of my life over this last year and I would hate to throw that away for something so trivial."

_Trivial?!_

The light on the front step suddenly flickered on and the door to the house opened suddenly causing both Marlene and Sirius to jump rather quickly.

"A bit late don't you think?" he called out from the doorway. He was eyeing Sirius suspiciously in the dim lighting of the darkened street as if trying to figure out who he was and why he was standing outside in the darkness with his god daughter.

If Uncle Tom had been lacking in the parental instinct department, he gave no inclination that this was the case this evening.

"This is Sirius," she said quickly. "Sirius Black. We go to school with each other. He lives with the Potters."

"Oh Black!" he said delightfully and his entire demeanor changed quite suddenly. He grinned widely and Sirius smiled back, offering a slight wave of his hand. "Couldn't see you in the dark."

"I'll be right in," Marlene muttered with slight embarrassment at the awkwardness of their encounter. Uncle Tom seemed to consider this for a moment; Marlene wondered if he thought he had been interrupting something less innocent. She certainly wished that he had been.

"Don't stay out too long," he said warningly but thankfully closed the door behind him so that Marlene and Sirius were alone again.

Sirius turned his face back to her and smiled. She noted with disdain that he looked much happier having gotten that piece off his chest.

All of her previous emotions came rushing at her at once. Knowing just how difficult it must have been for Sirius to stand in front of her and apologize with his heart on his sleeve made her skin crawl with envy. She had acted so completely childishly by denying him the opportunity the first time to explain himself after he had taken some much needed time to collect his thoughts. If she had only let him explain then things might be completely different for them now.

She couldn't help herself. Listening to him speak about how he had misread things between them and that the absurd trust issues they had developed with one another could be labeled as trivial in his eyes made her blood boil. Had she meant so little to him as a girlfriend? Had she over thought their relationship with one another? It seemed that she mattered less to him than she had thought and the devastating blow of his words left her feeling cold and empty.

Only hours ago hadn't she hoped that Sirius would still want her in his life, even if it was just as a friend? When she had begun the day she had been content to continue avoiding dwelling on this and now she had been forced into this mess, holding back tears while knowing that the small glimmer of hope she had had that Sirius still cared for her had been lost. She didn't want Sirius as a friend, she wanted him as a boyfriend and she was too blind with devastation to admit that she was being selfish. She thought that breaking up with Sirius had been the single most destructive mistake that she had made thus far but she was completely wrong; she knew that this moment would be far worse.

"Is that what you want, to just be friends?" she finally managed to spit out. She had been prepared to pour her heart out to him, tell him that she still had feelings for him and that he was all she could think about all day and night. She had wanted to confess how stupid she had been about everything and that she was sorry for rejecting him, for abandoning him and most of all for giving up when she should have fought to save it like he had. She didn't deserve a happier ending than this but the pain in her heart hurt all the same and she ignored the voice in her brain telling her that this was just.

"Yes of course," he looked surprised; as if he didn't understand the inner battle she was having over this. Which of course, he couldn't, but her irrational thoughts and emotions weren't letting her think about that clearly. Instead, his surprise just heightened her anger towards him.

"No Sirius," she said simply. She knew that she was probably going to regret this later but she was once again too absorbed in her own selfishness to care. He made her brain foggy with delusion and she wasn't ever able to think properly around him. In her opinion, this made her impulsive and weak. Her attraction to him was far too dangerous and a friendship with him would be a constant reminder of what she had thrown away. There would always be a temptation there and she couldn't risk letting the effect he had on her overpower her judgment.

"No, what?" he looked confused.

"I don't think we can be friends," she said painfully. If she was hurting inside as the words flew out of her mouth it was nothing in comparison to the look that adorned his face as the words registered to him.

"Oh," he said simply and the mask was back up so quickly that she had to wonder if she had seen any emotion at all. She knew better though, after he had just told her how important she was to him she knew how deeply she must have wounded him and there was nothing she could say or do to take it back.

"Thanks for walking me home Black," she hesitated, wanting to throw her arms around him and tell him that she was being foolish and that she didn't mean any of it. But she thought that this was for the best and she couldn't bring herself to change her mind.

"It wasn't a problem," his voice was low, quiet, unrestricted. Marlene watched him turn on his heel and head off back down the long road into the darkness before he disappeared out of her sight. It wasn't until he was well out of her focal point that she let out the briefest sob of frustration and she could feel the tears begin falling freely down her cheek.

_So that's it? _The voice of James Potter floated back into her mind. _You just give up?_

"Sirius," Marlene said sadly to nobody. "What have I done?"

* * *

><p>She didn't see Sirius or James for the remainder of the summer. This normally would have been a welcomed sentiment but since her encounter with Sirius, she was no closer to feeling closure about their standing than she had been at the beginning of the summer. She normally would have taken the opportunity to talk to Lily or Mary about her predicament but since neither girl were fond of Sirius for reasons that weren't actually true, she didn't know how she could possibly seek out their advice without giving something away that she shouldn't.<p>

She had once again holed herself up in the confinement of her bedroom for days on end and even her diminished appetite seemed to have peaked at its highest. By the time September first rolled around and she managed to shrug on some muggle clothes instead of the regular sweat pants and oversized t-shirts she had become accustomed to wearing around the house, she had noticed that all of her clothes were between one and two sizes too large for her.

She knew that she wasn't at a healthy weight and the thought only briefly concerned her as she wondered what Lily might say when she saw her. Her hollowed cheekbones were the most easy to spot from a distance but the clothing covered up the rest of her frail figure. Her jeans were just too big that they slid off her hips so she resorted to a pair of leggings that hugged her body a little better and didn't risk dropping down to her ankles when she walked. She purposely chose a looser fitting shirt but even with her attempt at hiding the significant weight loss she had experienced she knew that anyone who had seen her a few months ago would immediately notice the difference.

On the morning of September first she hastily threw any remaining items into her trunk at the last minute. She hesitated when her eyes caught site of the package on the dresser that contained the necklace she had received for her birthday but she tossed it carelessly into the trunk as an afterthought along with Sirius's sweater, knowing that he may ask for them back eventually. Uncle Tom helped her pack up her school trunk in a van that he had rented for their trip into London and the two of them set off for Kings Cross station with plenty of time to spare.

"Did you want me to help you onto the platform?" he asked from the driver's seat when they had pulled up to the station.

"No that's okay," Marlene smiled politely at him.

"Will I be seeing you before next summer?" he asked curiously and Marlene wasn't sure whether or not she was supposed to feel obligated to spend her holidays with him or not.

"I think I might just stay at Hogwarts this year," she said hesitantly. He didn't seem too put off by it but she added "just because it's N.E.W.T.s this year and I'm sure I'm going to be swamped with studying."

"I get it," he chuckled lightly. He illegally parked the car at the front of the station long enough to help her unload the trunk from the van before giving her a brief hug goodbye. "Don't hesitate to owl me if you need anything at all, okay?"

"Thanks," she said appreciatively. She waved him goodbye as he hopped back in the van and pulled out into the busy traffic, disappearing from view.

When she stepped through the barrier separating platforms 9 and 10 she was immediately relieved to see the magnificent scarlet steam engine. She realized with slight disappointment, that this would be the last time she would be facing it on her way to school. It was a bittersweet moment that was short lived as she was joined almost immediately by Lily.

"Marlene!" Lily exclaimed happily from the side of the platform from which she had been standing with her parents. Marlene smiled politely at Mr. and Mrs. Evans before enveloping Lily in a much anticipated hug. "What in Merlin's name have you been doing to yourself?"

The later part of her exclamation was indicating to the fact that her already naturally small frame was even more fragile than it had been previously. She knew that she wouldn't have been able to avoid Lily noticing but she shrugged it off like it wasn't anything to be concerned about.

"Not too sure what you mean?" Marlene feigned innocence. Lily gave her a skeptical glare; Marlene should have learned by now that she just wasn't capable of lying.

"Does this have to do with Black?" she asked pointedly.

"No," Marlene replied too quickly but the fact of the matter was that it had almost everything to do with him.

They didn't dwell on the subject long before Lily was saying her goodbyes to her parents. Marlene watched with envy as they hugged and kissed each other goodbye, unable to help but feel the overwhelming sense of resentment that her parents weren't here to wish her farewell.

"I don't suppose you've found out who the Head Boy is yet, have you?" Marlene asked out of curiosity when they had boarded the train and stowed away their trunks in the luggage compartment. They were searching for an empty compartment and Lily had insisted that she would need to head to the prefect meeting almost immediately to get things organized before everyone's arrival.

"No," she said simply. "I'm fairly certain it will be Remus though."

Marlene bit her tongue and held back the knowledge that she had gained over the summer. She wasn't quite sure how Lily was going to react to the news that James Potter was, in fact, her partner for the academic year and if she were to take it badly, Marlene did not want to be in her firing range.

They found Mary not long after and she was settled into a compartment along with Alice Prewett and Frank Longbottom. The latter two were snuggled together rather closely but weren't, thankfully, engaged in one of their infamous snogging session that they had become known for.

"Hello," Marlene offered to all three cheerfully before Lily dashed off towards the front of the train to meet with the other prefects.

Mary was looking at her curiously, no doubt with the same question that Lily had voiced earlier but Marlene dutifully ignored it as she settled into the seat beside her friend.

"How was Greece?" she asked instead and listened intently as Mary accounted for her families trip over the summer. It had become a tradition for the MacDonald family to travel to Greece to visit her grandparents since they were in second year.

"Well you remember that boy that I met last summer?" Marlene was trying to rack her brain from the previous year when they had had this discussion. Her mind was foggy but she seemed to recollect the memory that Mary had been involved with two separate blokes.

"Er – which one?" she asked curiously but Mary had already delved into a story about how her grandparent's neighbor and she had started up their fling from the previous summer and that the two of them were going to try to make it work long distance.

"His name is Paul," she said happily. "He's also a wizard so you don't have to worry, he won't be shell shocked when my first round of correspondence arrives to him via owl."

Marlene laughed at the thought of her muggle cousin Marjorie's reaction to Lily's post last Christmas. She couldn't imagine a muggle relationship panning out well for Mary when she spent her time away at a private boarding school for magic.

"Good," Marlene said simply when Mary had finished telling her all about Paul and their summer together. "I'm happy for you."

"How about you?" Mary asked curiously. She shot Marlene a questioning glance that she assumed was referring to her situation with Sirius. They had written over the summer but they hadn't gone into much detail about it.

She didn't have time to answer before the compartment door flung open and a white faced Lily walked in to join them. Marlene knew instantly what it was that had gotten such a reaction but Mary was completely clueless.

"Lily, what's wrong?" she asked quickly.

Lily's mouth opened and closed a couple of times but she seemed quite incapable of answering Mary's question. She didn't have to though, a firm hand behind her pushed open the rest of the compartment door and the brilliant grin of James Potter came into view.

"Ladies," he said brightly as his eyes passed over Mary, Alice and rested a fraction of a second longer on Marlene before his gaze shifted to Frank. "Longbottom."

"Hello Potter," Mary said dully. She seemed to have pieced together that part of Lily's sudden loss of speech had to do with James' presence but she still looked terribly confused at what she was missing.

"Congratulations," Frank said appreciatively from his spot across the compartment and Mary's look of confusion deepened.

"Thanks mate," James grin smiled. "Lovely to see you again Evans, I look forward to working with you this year as always."

His gaze drifted back to Marlene and his smile didn't quite reach his eyes as he looked at her. It was just enough tension to cause her to jerk her head away to look at the passing countryside instead.

"What is he talking about?" Mary asked incredulously after the compartment door had closed behind him. It was clear that her curiosity had reached its peak and was border lining on the verge of annoyance.

"Didn't you hear yet?" Frank was surprisingly the one to speak up. "James got Head Boy this year."

"WHAT?!" Mary's eyes had widened three times the size they normally were and it was slightly disfiguring for her normally pretty features. Lily was still looking pale but she nodded her head to confirm that Frank was speaking the truth.

"I thought it would be Remus," was all she could muster out before slumping herself into the empty seat beside Marlene and the window.

The train ride was surprisingly quiet; they didn't have the usual antics of the four Gryffindor boys exploding around them and Lily even seemed slightly bored that she didn't have any reason to wrangle them into order. She kept perking her ears up at every possible sound no doubt in an effort to find any excuse why James Potter had been a horrible pick for Head Boy.

By the time that they had reached the castle though she hadn't had to leave the compartment once to tell them off for bullying the first years or wreaking havoc in the hallways. Marlene was also surprised, if not slightly disappointed, that the boys hadn't made their usual round by the compartment in James' quest to ask out Lily. She could picture her last conversation with Sirius, something about how people change.

He had also mentioned that he had stopped asking Lily out before Christmas but she couldn't recall if this had been true. Had they really been getting on with each other for the better part of a year without her recognizing his increasing maturity?

Then again, she had been preoccupied in her own personal matters to pay much attention to the antics of James Potter and Lily wouldn't ever dare speak of it out loud even if she had noticed it.

Marlene didn't see Sirius again until they were boarding the horseless carriages. He had been walking with the rest of his group, laughing carelessly at something and looking much happier than she had last seen him. She was instantly reminded of the Sirius that she had known from a distance; a ghost of a boy that she felt like she had never known. Her mind was reeling with mixed emotions as she watched him but he did not seem to notice her presence.

Lily had noticed though; she jabbed a sharp elbow into Marlene's side and Marlene gave out a loud yelp of surprise to the gesture.

"Stop staring," she said firmly as she indicated towards the Gryffindor boys that were walking ahead of them.

"I'm not," Marlene tried and failed miserably. Lily didn't look too impressed and the sudden urge to blurt out the whole truth was more than she could handle. She bit her tongue hard enough to draw a small amount of blood and pulled herself into one of the carriages to avoid saying something she would determinedly regret.


	23. Part Two: Chapter Three

"Lily!"

The girls were exiting the great hall after the welcome feast. Lily had just been excusing herself from their group to help the prefects with the first year students when her name rang out through the crowd. Marlene would have been expecting James except that he had already walked up beside her to accompany her on their rounds.

"Snape," James said tonelessly before Lily had fully turned around.

"Lily," Snape seemed aggravated and somewhat frantic. "We need to talk. Now."

"James and I are quite busy with head duties at the moment Severus," Lily said sharply.

"I don't know what Dumbledore was on when he decided to make _you _headboy!" Snape ignored her and had rounded on James. A couple of students had stopped around them, curiously looking in on what appeared to be an impending fight. "You are reckless, irresponsible and enjoy putting others lives in danger!"

"Nothing to see here," James bellowed sternly at those passing by. To Marlene's surprise he turned his focus on her and Mary. "That includes you too McKinnon, MacDonald."

"Er – " Mary seemed off put at his authority. "We'll wait up for you Lily."

"Severus," Lily was lowering her voice. Marlene and Mary were of the few students left within ear shot of their conversation as they headed down the hallway after the retreating crowds.

"Did he tell you what he did?" Snape's eerily calm voice cracked in the distance. "How could he possibly make you head boy after what you did! And I bet you've got Lily all convinced that you're this perfect guy now, haven't you? Maybe I should enlighten her."

"Please Snape," James was almost begging him. "Now is not the time…"

And then the girls rounded the corner and the voices became too muffled to distinguish. Marlene already knew what Snape was referring to but Mary looked at her with curiosity, clearly eager to find out from Lily later what he had been going on about.

"What do you think has him riled up?" Mary asked quietly when they had moved out of earshot.

"I'm not too sure," she lied innocently enough and Mary seemed to accept her answer as genuine.

Despite Mary's promise to wait up for Lily she gave up when the common room had deserted at midnight and she couldn't stifle any more yawns. Marlene was certain that she and James probably had some last minute head duties to prepare for but she couldn't help but think that Lily might be burying his body somewhere if Snape had truly managed to tell her what he appeared to be telling her when they had left the trio.

Lily was uncharacteristically the last one to wake up the next morning. Marlene was at first surprised when she awoke to find the curtains still closed around Lily's bed frame and only after she had showered and gotten dressed had Lily stirred from her slumber and made an appearance. However, she must have been out extremely late if it warranted such a sleep in on the first day of classes.

"Don't you think it's a bit late to be waking up?" she questioned her friend but Lily merely yawned before brushing past her and into the bathroom where she closed the door firmly behind her and only emerged a short while later looking a bit tired but just as radiant as ever.

They were running behind for breakfast so they only had the opportunity to snatch a piece of toast which they consumed as they hurried along the corridors leading to the dungeons. Marlene hadn't taken the opportunity to question how late Lily had been up but by her tired appearance it appeared that it was quite late.

She was also unusually quiet but brushed it off when Mary had voiced her concern over it.

"It's nothing," had been her reply but this answer didn't satisfy Mary's growing frustration that Lily had refused to divulge details from her evening.

Marlene didn't have much time to dwell on it though, during their first potions class that morning it became quite evident that her seventh and final year at Hogwarts was going to be an all new level of challenging. She had been anticipating the increased level of stress that was to be expected with the level of N.E.W.T study, but she hadn't fully expected just how difficult it was actually going to be.

"Everlasting Elixirs!" Professor Slughorn announced from the front of the classroom. She had been subjected to her regular round of double potions but she somehow didn't mind quite like she had the previous year. There was a slight groan from the surrounding students but this didn't seem to deter their professor's surge of enthusiasm. "Who can tell me the concept behind these?"

It wasn't a surprise that both Lily and Snape's hand shot into the air but it was with shock to see James' hand shoot up alongside them.

"Mr. Potter?" Professor Slughorn seemed equally surprised but delighted.

"When properly brewed the effect of the potion's effects will become everlasting, such as the name indicates. On the other hand it can be also brewed so that the contents of the potion never run out either. Could come in quite handy for a potion that needs regular brewing."

"Ah yes," their Professor agreed readily. "However, not all potions can be brewed to become everlasting. Unfortunately for some of the more tricky and complicated potions, regular practice and concocting will become a repetitive nature but for the select few potions, well I don't think I need to enlighten you on how much easier life becomes with the introduction of the everlasting elixir."

"What about a love potions, Professor?" a giggling brunette at the front of the room piped up and was entertained by a few other snickers throughout the room. Marlene recognized the brunette to be Natasha Madley, one of the Hufflepuffs in her year who she had witnessed on several occasions shooting flirtatious glances in the direction of Sirius. Today was no different, she had shot her eyes across the room to look at him but Marlene noted with relief that he hadn't paid her any attention. Marlene could feel her blood boil as she was reminded of the first and last time she had had an encounter with the vivacious brunette.

"No Miss Madley," he said with a trace of humor, "that is not one potion that you could brew to be everlasting. Now, if the class will settle down please, let's switch up the partners a bit from the usual, Potter and McKinnon, Evans and Longbottom."

James looked at her earnestly from across the room. She remembered what it had been like to be partnered with him during sixth year but he seemed a bit more studious now so she hoped that he would pay less attention to Lily and more attention to their potion. He was sitting beside Sirius but gathered his things to take the empty space beside her that had been previously occupied by Lily. Professor Slughorn continued calling out names as James crossed the room and settled into the seat beside her.

"Good Morning," he said with as much endearment as seemingly possible. Marlene looked at him skeptically, wondering what antics he might be up to.

"Hi," she said bleakly and felt slightly nauseated by the dashing smile he flashed her in response. It was a much different reaction to her than he had displayed the previous day.

"Black and Madley."

Marlene felt her stomach lurch even further as she watched the delighted look cross Natasha's face as she hurried over to replace the seat that James had recently occupied. She had to peel her eyes away from their table for fear that she might start shooting hexes at the brunette who was standing far too closely to Sirius to be comfortable.

"Alright then students," Professor Slughorn called from the front of the classroom. He had started writing things down on the board but had enchanted the chalk to continue writing on for him as he addressed the class. "Shall we make N.E.W.T. year interesting? Whoever can properly brew an acceptable elixir by the end of class will be rewarded with this."

The class craned their necks to see closer and noted that their professor was holding a small vial of a potion that appeared to be the color of sunshine. It glimmered slightly in the flickering light of the dungeon.

"Elixir to induce euphoria!" he bellowed happily. "I dare say this might come in handy at some point during this year once all the stress of the exams had started to settle in. Think of it as a temporary relaxation from all your worries."

"Could sure use that right about now," James said smugly from beside her and she wasn't sure if he was being serious or not, and whether the comment had been intended towards her. She didn't bother to ask but instead started writing down the list of needed ingredients they would need to start.

Even the simplest of potions could be quite a bit more complicated when brewed to become everlasting, so they had decided to brew a relatively simple Draught of Peace that they had covered back in their fifth year. Marlene headed to the front of the room to gather the ingredients where she ran into Lily who was hastily grabbing the ingredients to what appeared to be a far more complex potion.

"What are you brewing?" she said while eyeing the infusion of wormwood that Lily had grasped in her small hands.

"Draught of Living Death," Lily said confidently.

"We haven't even attempted that potion yet," Marlene said with astonishment. It appeared that Lily meant business.

"Yes well," Lily grabbed the last of her needed ingredients, "I like to aim high."

Marlene returned to her table where James was finishing up the setup of their cauldron and they quickly divided tasks.

"How mad is she?" James finally broke the silence between them after about fifteen minutes by poking the side of her arm.

The motion had startled Marlene momentarily and it had caused her to jump slightly in her seat. She had been too lost in thought about their potion to notice he had been talking to her.

"Sorry," he chuckled lightly but the humor didn't seem to quite meet his eyes. "I didn't mean to startle you."

"No it's fine," Marlene said with reassurance. She caught his curious glance before realizing that his previous question had gone unanswered. Her eyes darted over to the back of Lily's vivid red hair on the opposite side of the room and she sighed.

"How much does she know?" she asked quietly.

"Most of it," he said with a nervous ruffle to his hair. "She didn't tell you?"

"No," Marlene's eyes drifted away from Lily and back to the bubbling potion in front of them.

"You seem to be improving," James noted happily in an attempt to change the subject. They had been fairly successful overall thus far but the comments floating across the room from their professor indicated that they were no match for the potion that was being concocted by Snape and Avery.

"Thanks," she said simply. "I suppose I have fewer things distracting me this year."

It was a blatant lie. She knew that she had way more on her mind than she had at the beginning of the year last year but she knew that putting a focus on her studies had become a much more prominent forerunner in her priorities. It did help not to constantly question her abilities though; her improved confidence was something she could easily thank Sirius for.

By the end of class it was apparent that the winning potion belonged to Snape. Lily, of course, had come in a close second and she seemed unnaturally resentful when Professor Slughorn handed over the winning vial to Snape.

A mad giggle had pulled Marlene's concentration away from the final notes she had been scribbling down on her parchment and she watched with horror as Sirius said something to Natasha who giggled passionately and flirtatiously flipped her hair over her shoulder, hand on his shoulder and batting her thick eyelashes at him.

"Oh Sirius," her melodic voice floated over the noise of sliding chairs and shuffling footsteps as student's began gathering their belongings to head for lunch. "You're too funny!"

She couldn't see his face as his back was turned to her but she could almost picture the smug looking grin that probably crossed his face at her compliment.

"Jealous?" James was still beside her and seemed to be observing her quietly. He didn't seem to be taunting her but she couldn't help but feel a flare of irritation towards him for the comment.

"Of course not," she lied quickly and hurriedly shoved her books into her bag. She wasn't quite quick enough to pack up before Sirius had joined them at their table no doubt waiting for James. But it wasn't the fact that his presence, standing feet away from her, had startled her. It was the fact that standing directly beside him, chatting animatedly was Natasha Madley and Sirius was seemingly just as engaged in the conversation as she was. He didn't even glance up at her or acknowledge her presence as he waited for James to pack his bag.

"Excuse me," she said hastily, pushing past James and bolting for the door. She couldn't bear to see the two of them together even though the logical part of her told her it was nothing to be concerned with. Still, seeing Sirius with another girl was extremely difficult and she finally knew what it must have felt like for him to watch her date Bert.

They hadn't spoken since they had arrived back at Hogwarts but it seemed evident to her that he had no difficulty adjusting to her wishes. She wasn't sure what she should have been expecting; a warm welcoming seemed belligerently selfish considering how they had left things over the summer but she had hoped he wouldn't resort to acting like she didn't exist.

She tried not to dwell on it much and instead focused on forcing her feet to move her swiftly to the great hall without looking back to see them. She hadn't bothered waiting for Lily and Mary before her departure but they joined her soon enough for lunch where Lily wasted no time going over the various reasons why she was disappointed to have lost the potions challenge.

"I'm not arguing that Snape's potion wasn't better," she said as an afterthought, "but I do believe I attempted a far more complicated potion than he did which Professor Slughorn didn't seem to take into consideration."

"The task was supposed to be whoever concocted the closest potion," Mary said between mouthfuls of food.

"I wasn't aware you were a fan of defending Snape," Lily said indignantly. The statement caught Marlene slightly off-guard as Lily had always adamantly stuck up for the Slytherin so she was surprised to hear Lily's slight tone of distaste on the matter.

"I'm not," Mary looked horror-struck at the suggestion. "I'm just informing you of what the task was."

"Either way," Lily said bitterly. "I still attempted a much more complicated potion than he did."

"Hey Lily!" their conversation was cut short by the shout of a male voice not too far from them. Lily recoiled slightly almost as if it were instinct when the recognition settled in that the voice belonged to James. The motion hadn't been seen of Lily in quite a long time and Marlene was almost startled to see Lily react to him in such a way.

"What do you want Potter?" she said firmly. They had been enjoying their lunch when James and his entourage had suddenly appeared from their seats down the table.

Marlene fidgeted nervously beside Lily when she caught site of Sirius looking at her. He offered a small smile before focusing his attention elsewhere and she could hear Mary scoff quietly beside her as if she had witnessed their exchange with dislike. Once again, Marlene knew that she couldn't blame her friend for being under false pretenses but the gesture irritated her and she willfully forced herself from making a snarky comment towards Mary's rudeness.

"Just wanted to talk to you about last night," James offered a dazzling smile but Lily's iciness did not waver.

"I don't think there's much else that needs to be said," she said frostily and James threw a nervous hand through his hair as if he hadn't been quite expecting such a reception from her. Marlene couldn't blame him; it had been an awfully long time since the two of them had had any sort of negative exchange quite like this one.

"I beg to differ," he said a bit more firmly than he had probably intended no doubt in an effort to sound calm and collected.

"This is extremely important. Can we steal you away for fifteen minutes so we can discuss a few things? Please." It was Remus this time and he asked so politely that Marlene knew Lily wouldn't be able to deny him.

Lily pursed her lips and seemed to hesitate but finally nodded her head in agreement.

"Marlene," Lily said as she was rising from the table. "You'd better come too."

* * *

><p>They walked silently down the hall until James redirected her from the typical path to Gryffindor tower and to a part of the castle that Marlene wasn't quite as familiar with. She immediately recognized their whereabouts when they passed by the classroom that they had shared for their first year in Defense Against the Dark Arts. James had taken them to the North Tower.<p>

She had been relieved that Sirius and Peter hadn't joined them but her relief quickly turned into anxiety as she looked at the emotionless face that Lily was directing at her when they had reached their intended destination.

"This place is fairly deserted at night since they got rid of Divination a few years ago," James offered as an explanation when they had arrived. He led the girls and Remus into an abandoned classroom and the door groaned ominously as if it hadn't been used properly in a number of years before clicking shut behind them with such fierceness that it caused Marlene to jump.

Lily performed a simple imperturbable charm on the classroom so that they would be safe to speak before she said anything.

"I spoke with James last night," she said simply while settling herself atop of one of the dusty desks. Her hand graced the layer of dust and she ran the filmy layer through her fingers as she continued. "He told me that you know all about Remus."

"Er -" Marlene looked apprehensively towards James and Remus for confirmation. They both nodded their heads in agreement.

"Remus," Lily's brows furrowed as if irritated Marlene didn't understand. "About the fact that he's a werewolf."

"Yes," Marlene said slowly. "I know about that."

"I've known about you Remus, for a few years now," Lily sighed and her face relaxed. "I figured it out back in fourth year though I daresay that it was Severus that opened my eyes to it then. I was perfectly content for the first year or two believing that your mother really was ill all of those times."

"Snape?" Marlene's brain was racing; Snape had only found out about Remus back in the previous term. How could he have told Lily about it in fourth year?

"Naturally he'd been suspicious of Remus's absences and I eventually had to agree with him, he was absent quite a bit out of the school year. It wasn't until Severus associated his absences with the full moon that I really put the pieces together and I wondered if he had been right."

"He's been trying to figure it out for years," Remus said quietly. "I suppose it was only a matter of time before this happened. It's just a shame it happened the way it did."

"Snape wasn't too fond of the notion that Professor Dumbledore assigned me head boy after what he thought happened last year." James interjected quickly.

"I'm sorry Potter," Lily turned her attention towards him and frowned fierce enough to make him recoil. "I'd love to understand how Severus could _think _that you put his life in danger when in fact you actually did."

"I don't know how many times I have to defend myself Lily," James groaned desperately. "It was all just a stupid mistake. We didn't mean for it to go that far."

"When you told me that you told Lily 'most of it'," Marlene asked suddenly and all parties diverted their attention towards her. "What parts were you leaving out?"

"I'd be quite curious to know the answer to that as well," Lily said bitterly.

"No offence Evans," James' tone had clearly changed out of defensiveness. Marlene watched the look of shock on Lily's face to being addressed so aggressively; it wasn't within James' nature to speak to her in such a manner. "This whole thing really isn't any of your business anyways. I daresay if Snivellus hadn't felt the urge to play victim then you wouldn't be privy to any of this information in the first place."

"And she is?!" Lily pointed her finger towards Marlene and for a moment Marlene felt a surge of irritation at Lily's presumptuous notions that she was more important.

"No," Marlene replied harshly and Lily's face flushed red at the realization of her rudeness.

"Marlene, I didn't mean – "

"The only reason I know any of this is because I couldn't keep my god damn nose out of everyone else's business. James it completely right, this matter has absolutely nothing to do with you or me. As it stands Snape decided to spill the beans from what I'm gathering here and by the sounds of it James is refusing to tell you the whole story out of respect for his friends."

"Marlene," James said wearily but she wasn't finished.

"I really don't know why I'm being dragged into this," she looked expectantly at Lily "but I assume it has something to do with the fact that my name came up at some point or another last night. And since Sirius already hates me anyways then James, you won't mind if I set the record straight about his involvement."

"Sirius is the one that told Snape about Remus and the Whomping Willow. Upon realizing his mistake he told James and James, being this amazingly decent and unconditionally honest human being, did the right thing and tried to warn Snape before it was too late. Of course since Snape hates James, he would find some way to believe that they were both involved and concocted some elaborate prank for their sheer enjoyment. I know because I was there and nearly got myself killed because I couldn't contain my curiosity about what these boys are up to night after night."

Marlene continued on with her account of the events of the evening; how she had overheard the boys conversation in the common room, how James had taken off to save Snape, and how she had foolishly followed after them. The only thing she made a point of leaving out was anything to do with the Marauder's map and their animagus forms as she wasn't quite sure if that information had been divulged. She didn't imagine Lily would fancy the notion that the boys possessed a magical map that revealed the location of every individual in Hogwarts and were romping around after hours in non human form.

"Is that true?" Lily looked at James after Marlene had finished speaking. "Is it true that Sirius was the one behind this and you had nothing to do with it?"

"Yes," James said apprehensively.

"Why didn't you just tell me that last night?" Lily seemed angry again. "We could have avoided so many things if you had just been honest with me in the first place."

"He'd do anything for his friends, he'd never betray their trust," Marlene was looking at James in silent understanding. She knew that she wasn't just referring to James. "It's just the type of guy he is."

James was staring back at her with what appeared to be a look of sadness and appreciation but his facial expression didn't give away whether or not he understood her intended innuendo. After Marlene had finished speaking he and Remus went into their accounts of how things had transpired, everything that Marlene had learned from Sirius and Remus in conversations that had followed in the aftermath.

"So you also failed to inform me just how involved Marlene had been in this whole thing," Lily interrupted their silent exchange. "Marlene, what on earth were you thinking?!"

"I don't need a lecture," Marlene said wearily. "This happened months ago and I'm pretty sure I got an earful from Sirius when it happened."

"Speaking of Sirius," Lily said absently. "I suppose you never did walk in on him kissing another girl then did you?"

"What?" James voice had risen sharply. Even Remus looked surprised. "Is that what you told them happened?"

Marlene shifted her eyes towards the floor and remained silent.

"No wonder you girls have been giving him the stink eye lately," Remus drew in a sharp breath.

"Well a few things make just a bit more sense now that I know all of this," Lily sighed heavily. "I have to say that this really wasn't something I was planning on dealing with during my first rounds of head duties."

"I'm pretty sure were going to be late for the next set of classes," Remus interjected after glancing at the dusty clock on the wall. "I really want to make sure you're okay Lily, I know that this must have been quite the story to have thrown on you last night."

"Oh Remus," she smiled sadly. "I'm just sorry that this was how you were outed to me. I would have much preferred that you had been comfortable to tell me yourself. Don't worry I won't tell a single soul."

Since Lily and Remus were closest to the door they were the first to exit. As Marlene stepped into place to follow them she was stopped when James' hand shot out in front of her, blocking her exit.

"Despite what you may think," he said earnestly in response to her questioning glance. "Sirius doesn't hate you; I just thought you should know that."

And then he followed Remus out into the hallway on his way to Charms.

* * *

><p>Mary was not so easy to brush off after they had arrived in Charms class. Because they had arrived so late, the only empty seats left in the room were beside Natasha Madley and Mary. Lily exchanged a quick glance with Marlene before settling into the seat beside Natasha.<p>

Although thankful that Lily had been thoughtful enough to save her from the surely awkward predicament of sitting beside the less than friendly brunette, sitting beside Mary meant an entirely new dilemma she wasn't in the mood to deal with.

"So is someone going to tell me what is going on?" Mary said sharply under her breath when Professor Flitwick began the lecture.

"Not now," Marlene whispered back quickly but was subjected to a heated glare from her friend.

In fact, they had been so absorbed in their conversation at lunch that neither she nor Lily had even contemplated what they were going to tell Mary when they did see her. She knew that she should be paying attention to the lecture at hand but she couldn't help her mind from wandering.

Surprising enough though, Mary did not further pursue the subject until after dinner. This gave Lily and Marlene ample time to discuss the matter on their way to arithmancy after class.

"She's asking you know," Marlene said quietly after they had departed Mary on her way to muggle studies.

"I suppose I should have figured she would," Lily sighed. "Well what do you propose we should tell her?"

"You know it might have been a bit easier to explain off that James had performed yet another thoughtless prank on Snape if you hadn't pulled me away from lunch today. Now we need to think of something that involves me too."

"I'm sorry," Lily said with slight exasperation. "I really didn't have much time to speak to you privately this morning as Mary is always around and I couldn't help that James felt the need to ambush me at lunch again."

"What exactly happened?" Marlene was curious at what had actually transpired after she and Mary had departed the previous evening.

"Well Severus was extremely agitated as you know. When he discovered that James had been made head boy he was enraged, and I suppose I can't blame him. After what James has been known for all these years, and after what had happened between him and Severus last year, I could imagine how Severus might question Dumbledore's logic. Well clearly he was threatening to tell me and it was evident that James was begging with him not to," she continued on "I've never seen James beg like that before, it was desperate, almost sad."

"I have a hard time picturing that," Marlene couldn't imagine James Potter begging for anything; he was much too noble for that.

"Yes so I knew that it must be something big," Lily persisted. "Severus relished in the details when he told me what James had done. Of course he left out the details that James had been the one to try to save him from going down the passage way."

"I'm actually curious how my name came up in all of this," Marlene wondered suddenly. She wasn't aware that Snape knew that she had been present during the event and was curious what James' reasoning would be for revealing that she had been involved.

Lily looked a little embarrassed, almost as if she had been hoping to avoid this particular question.

"So?" Marlene pressed on. They had arrived outside of their arithmancy class and knew that they had limited time before class would commence. Lily pulled her away from the doorway where students were filtering in.

"I didn't handle the news very well," she admitted guiltily. "I always knew that James was a troublemaker but this news was just far too great from what I ever imagined him capable of. I sort of lost it on him afterwards, which in hindsight is probably what Severus was trying to accomplish in the first place. After I learned that he and Sirius had been the ones to prank Severus, I told James something along the lines about how you were better off that you had broken up with Sirius because he was obviously not good enough for you."

Lily's words reminded Marlene vaguely of how she had been feeling in the days after the day in question.

"Then James said to me 'why do you think she broke up with him?'" Lily finished. "Of course, I imagine that James was under the impression that you had told us at least a version of what had happened so I was surprised to learn that you had been there. I don't think he voluntarily would have given up that information if he had known but after I asked about your involvement, his guilt was far too apparent to be able to cover it up. He told me that you had discovered what he and Sirius had done and had promised not to say anything if he turned himself into Dumbledore. Obviously I know now that his story is a bit stretched from the truth but I think he was trying to limit how cross I might be after learning that you had been involved. "

"He really is a decent guy you know Lily," Marlene didn't feel obliged to put in a good word for him. She truly believed it.

"I know," Lily seemed bothered by the words but nevertheless smiled in defeat. "I'm curious now about what happened with Sirius. And not just this made up story that you've been feeding me for the last few months. I want to know the real story."

Marlene glanced at the clock and realized that they were due to be in class.

"That is a very long story," she sighed before nudging Lily towards the classroom door.

"Well it's a good thing that I'm head girl and have the authority to write you a note for missing class," Lily smiled mischievously. This was something that Marlene would have expected from James as head boy but it was uncharacteristic for Lily to abuse her position of authority. Lily linked her arm into Marlene's and steered her quickly away from the classroom before Professor Vector could realize they were absent.


	24. Part Two: Chapter Four

**A/N:** I just want to say a huge THANK YOU to every single one of you that has taken the time to read and/or review this story. Without you I wouldn't have the motivation to keep going. I also want to send a shout out to ObsessedwReading, you are most definitely the first person to review every single chapter and I'm so thankful for your devotion. Thank you! :)

* * *

><p>Despite being somewhat unconvinced of the excuse that Lily and Marlene had fed Mary about Marlene witnessing a rather cruel prank that the boys had played on Snape, she had stopped pressing the subject once the reality of their intense course load had settled in. Eventually she had seemed to forget about it all together.<p>

In the weeks to follow, Lily became so absorbed in her Head Girl duties that it hardly seemed plausible for her to have any spare time for homework, yet somehow she always seemed one step ahead of both her friends.

"I'm not quite sure how you are managing to get all of this done!" Mary exclaimed dejectedly one evening when Lily had joined them after her round of Head Girl duties.

Marlene was curled up in one of the squashy arm chairs near the fire place in the Gryffindor common room with her Standard book of spells open to the chapter on the Aguamenti charm. They had begun the year in Charms class by learning the practical aspect of the spell within the first few days but had been disdained to discover exactly how much research and written work would follow.

"As long as I know how to perform the spell, why must I spend hours upon hours researching its origin and possible side effects?" Mary continued with a sigh.

Lily had shot her an apathetic look but didn't bother answering her. Marlene was quite inclined to agree with Mary but she did not voice this out loud, instead she averted her eyes back to the line that she had been reading over and over for the past five minutes. Her concentration had started failing her as the entire week had been flown by in a blur of studious application and her brain was starting to hurt.

"If the entire year goes by like this I'm going to blink and it will be over," she sighed. She finally resorted to closing the text book after she had failed to grasp the concept of the entire previous paragraph she had just read. "I just can't concentrate on this any longer."

"Same here," Mary said in agreement as she too moved away from the book that had been the prime focus of their past hour.

"How's the Head Girl position going?" Marlene hadn't had much time to think about much else during the week and they hadn't spent much time discussing Lily's extracurricular activities. She welcomed the change in conversation readily as it meant her focus was less directed at school work like it had been for the majority of her first month back at school.

"It's going rather well, actually!" Lily said with a bit of surprise. It seemed apparent to Marlene that Lily's initial shock of James Potter's appointment to the Head Boy position had left her feeling like the entire year was going to be ruined. However, she seemed pleasantly stunned by the turn of events as James had been nothing but supportive in their collaborative efforts.

"It's odd really," she continued on after a moment of thought. "It's almost as if becoming Head Boy has knocked some form of sense into his brain. Not once has he had any involvement in childish nonsense. It's as if he is a completely different person."

"Maybe this is the real James Potter," Marlene offered helpfully. "Maybe everything else was always an act."

She couldn't help but compare the situation to that of Sirius. She wasn't quite sure if what she was saying could be applied to James as she recalled the information that Sirius had divulged to her last year about the eleven year old version of James in their first year at Hogwarts. It had seemed that James' nature had always been about mischief and she was doubtful that a shiny gold badge was going to change that. Still, the boy was clearly making an effort whether or not it had anything to do with Lily or not.

"Maybe," Lily also seemed skeptical. "I have a hard time believing that he's really matured that quickly."

But the truth of the matter was that James had been maturing for quite some time and even Marlene was able to finally recognize and appreciate that fact. She said nothing to Lily but was glad that the fact the two Gryffindor's were working alongside each other, hadn't deterred Lily from her good mood.

"Speaking of," Mary said suddenly while looking around the common room. "Where exactly are the boys anyways?"

Marlene had been more than capable of handling a conversation about James but Mary's observation brought the focus back on the rest of his entourage and Marlene felt the knot in her stomach tighten as her eyes instinctively traveled around the room in search.

"James and Remus are doing prefect duties," Lily said absentmindedly. She obviously hadn't noticed that Marlene had paled slightly. "I have no idea where the other two are."

Marlene still hadn't spoken with Sirius and she had felt displeasure at the fact that he still hadn't acknowledged her presence. She was finally aware of how it had felt to be one of those girls, obsessing over a boy who didn't know you existed.

Except that Sirius did know she existed; and he had wanted her. She had been the one that was stupid enough to push him away. She was crazy to think that she would ever have another chance to make things right with him after ending things the way she had.

Talking to Lily about it had lifted a massive load off of her shoulders. Lily had listened objectively as Marlene accounted for everything that had happened. She wasn't able to offer much guidance with how to move forward but she had proven to be much needed support and for that Marlene had been thankful to finally have a shoulder to cry on.

Despite her conversation with Lily, she was still so confused with the mix of emotions and she didn't quite know how to handle it.

She scowled at her thoughts and the notion was not missed by her friend Mary.

"What's the matter?" she asked curiously and Marlene became aware that she had been avidly daydreaming for long enough that she had missed their entire conversation.

"Nothing," she said almost too quickly and Lily shot her a knowing look.

"Stop thinking about him," she said bluntly as if this was the easiest task in the world.

"I'm trying," Marlene said defensively but all she wanted to do was scream out in frustration for Lily speaking such nonsense. She knew that Lily was only trying to be supportive by diverting her focus onto other things but Lily couldn't possibly understand what she was going through.

"I don't understand how you can still be hung up on him after what he did to you," Mary interjected.

Marlene pursed her lips but said nothing. After all, Mary didn't know the truth like Lily and perhaps she would have a different opinion if she did.

The conversation went dry after that. Mary and Lily reengaged in whatever conversation they had been having prior and Marlene was quick to tune them out. Her thoughts instead trailed off to a forgotten charms essay and the energetic first years playing wizards chess in the common room corner.

Almost as if fate was testing her, her eyes picked up a trace of movement from the entrance and she tore her eyes away from the first years as the four Gryffindor boys in question sauntered in amongst a joyous fit of laughter.

"Speak of the devils," Mary whispered under her breath. Lily's head had snapped up and her eyes narrowed slightly in defense almost as if their witty laughter was a guilty admission to something they had been up to that they shouldn't have been. It seemed that, even with Lily's recent surprise in James change of attitude, she was still weary of the possibility of a relapse.

"Good evening ladies," James said charmingly as they approached them. Marlene felt her stomach sink as she realized their intention to sit with them. Sirius didn't look at her but settled into the large armchair beside her, continuing on a conversation he had been having with Peter.

"I hope that you haven't been up to your usual antics," Lily said almost frostily but the charming smile James flashed at her managed to force out of her even the slightest of smiles.

"I think you're forgetting I'm Head Boy," he said suavely. "That would be pure abuse of my authority."

Mary snickered and Lily, surprisingly, shot her a look that shut her up almost instantly. Marlene said nothing; she continued to stare off into space in the hopes that the earth might swallow her whole. She could feel the surmounting tension between them as this had been the first time in such close proximity since the middle of the summer holidays. Still, she couldn't help but feel the same familiar comfort that his presence brought to her and she selfishly wished that she was brave enough to strike up a conversation.

"You look terrible," Remus was actually the first to say something. His bluntness startled Marlene and it took a moment to realize that it had been directed at her. Her head had been resting in her hand, eyes gazing off into the distance but at the clear indication that he had been speaking to her she had flicked her gaze towards him to notice that he was staring at her with concern.

"Just what every girl wants to hear," she said with a rueful smile.

"Stress of the academic year getting to you already, McKinnon?" James said wryly from his spot across the couch from her. She offered him a weak half smile before he went back to the conversation he had started with Lily.

"Do you need some help with Transfiguration?" It was Sirius. Marlene felt her heart skip a beat as she realized that he was actually talking to her. He didn't seem fazed though, she chanced a glance over to him and he appeared to be quite as collected as he did when he had first offered his assistance to her at the beginning of sixth year.

"No," she said slowly. For once, Transfiguration was not something that was weighing heavily on her mind.

"You know all you have to do is ask," Sirius was looking at her with slightly raised brows. He was obviously referring to her stubbornness. How well he had been able to get to know her in such a short amount of time.

"I know," she said quietly but she wasn't quite sure if she knew this to be true. Asking Sirius for help was almost just as painful as not having him around her. After all, she had been the one to tell him that she didn't want him in her life.

She tried hard to ignore the piercing stare that she could feel Remus giving her as Sirius moved back to the conversation he had been having with Peter. She could sense him watching her for the majority of the evening as though he was watching and waiting for her to break at any minute. It was almost as if he was able to read her mind. Although, with all the secrets that the Marauders had it wouldn't have been a shocking revelation for her to learn that he had been gifted in the art of telepathy.

"I'm going to bed," she said not too long later. She was growing tired of the pained process it had become to be within Sirius's presence with him acting like nothing had ever happened between them. She knew that this was to be expected, but the reality of the situation did not make it any easier for her to endure. Remus was making her uncomfortable as well; she didn't like the unwanted attention on herself and his cautious glances towards her indicated that he was well aware that something was going on beneath the surface.

She didn't wait for replies before sweeping, slightly ungracefully, from the chair and towards the girls dormitory. She took a chance and looked back as she embarked up the staircase; James and Lily were talking and laughing animatedly like they had been good friends for years while the rest of the group were chatting aimlessly about something else entirely. She noted accurately that Sirius had the same animated spark twinkling in his eye as he listened to whatever it was that Peter was saying. His handsome features twisted into a glorious half smirk and he carelessly tossed a hand through his dark hair as he slouched back into the chair with elegant ease. There was absolutely nothing different about the way that Sirius Black was acting; he was quite remarkably the same Sirius Black that she had grown to admire and the realization that her absence from his company had gone unnoticed left an abnormally huge gap in her heart.

However, her absence had not gone unnoticed by Remus as he was still looking at her with the same creased brow that he had shown her earlier in the evening. She could feel her face flush slightly as she realized he must have noticed her lingering gaze on Sirius. She hastily moved away from the staircase and up into the safety of her dormitory where she readily cried herself to sleep like she had done every night since she had told Sirius she couldn't be his friend.

* * *

><p>"You need to eat something," Remus surprised her in the library as he held out a muffin to her. "I know that it's not much but it's difficult to sneak a large meal into the library without being detected."<p>

"I'm not hungry," Marlene said without even looking up at him from the Charms essay she was working on.

"Hungry or not," he said harshly, "you are withering away before my eyes."

She glanced up at him apprehensively and noticed that he was looking at her bleakly with the muffin outstretched to her. She hesitantly accepted it and only after she had taken a tentative bite of the blueberry muffin did his face relax and he sunk into the chair across from her.

"I hope this isn't a new look you're striving for," he continued. Marlene averted her eyes back towards the parchment in front of her but was more than annoyed when Remus yanked it away from her.

"I'm working on that!" she said a little too loudly as Madam Pince shot her a reproving glare from across the room and insisted that she keep her voice down.

"How long has this been going on for?" he continued on more sternly. He wasn't willingly going to give up without a fight and Marlene wasn't sure that it was worth getting kicked out of the library over.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb," he said knowingly and the same level of concern that he had displayed the evening prior had returned. "You do realize that I am the king of feeling sorry for myself due to my ill-conceived disposition. I know what it looks like when someone hasn't been sleeping well and has forgotten to eat for a few days. Except in your case it looks like you haven't slept or eaten in at least a month or longer."

"My Uncle Tom wasn't really the cooking type," she tried to pass off the excuse that she had convinced herself was the case. This conversation wasn't new to her; Lily and Mary had been pestering her for weeks about her lack of appetite. "If you think I'm purposely starving myself to be able to fit into a pair of jeans – "

"I'm not insinuating that you have an eating disorder," he said sharply. He handed her essay back to her and she snatched it from him quickly so that she could continue jotting down points that she hadn't been able to quite finish. "There's clearly something else going on here."

"What's it to you?" she snapped a bit more harshly than was polite. Remus blanched slightly at her defensiveness but otherwise didn't waver from his pursuit.

"You're my friend," he said with a sigh, "and I'm concerned about you. We all are."

She couldn't help but wonder who 'all' referred too. Surely he was speaking of Lily and Mary, but she couldn't help her mind from wandering into the possibility that Sirius was also being referenced. Had they been discussing her recently?

She scowled.

"I'm fine," she lied unconvincingly and Remus shot her a knowing look.

"I promise I won't say anything to anyone if you need to talk," he said sadly. "I know what it's like to feel like you have nobody to talk to."

She watched him push himself away from the table and wander out the doors to the library before she realized that he had only been trying to help. She had done enough damage by pushing people away in the past and she didn't want to make that mistake again.

She flung her belongings into her bag and dashed out of the library after him. Remus was already at the far end of the corridor when she yelled after him. He luckily heard her and turned around, waiting long enough for her to jog briskly down the hallway to reach him.

"It's Sirius," she stated obviously. Remus didn't look surprised by this but nodded his head like he understood. "I've been so…confused…and conflicted about the whole thing. I pushed him away and punished him for something that I know I have no business punishing him for."

"Snape?" Remus wondered curiously. They had started walking and he had matched his voice to the same low whisper that she had in order to prevent their conversation to be heard from any potentially prying ears.

"Yes," she said quickly. "Mostly, I think, that it's because he did such a terrible thing, risking his life and all. But it's also that he was so quick to shut me out. Not even dating Sirius, just knowing Sirius, is like a huge mystery. You boys have so many secrets that it makes it extremely difficult to know what he's thinking when he does that."

"Relationships are supposed to be built on trust though, right?" Remus asked her seriously.

"Well, yes," she wasn't quite sure what he was intending.

"Do you trust Sirius?"

"Yes of course," she said hastily. "Obviously I doubted that for a brief period of time but now I can see that I made an error in judgment."

"I suppose I can see why you might jump to that conclusion," he offered sympathetically after she had admitted to her thoughts.

"It's within human nature to be curious about certain things and I know the way that Sirius gets sometimes, it could be easy to mistake his detachment for something else when you have no reason to believe that anything is wrong. I think that you know now that that assessment was completely inaccurate, it's not within Sirius's nature to be disloyal to the ones that he cares about. If you think about it in a logical sense you would see that his failure to be completely honest with you was, in fact, due to protecting my secret. Yes, he very well could have concocted an elaborate story or been more discreet about what was going on so that you didn't become suspicious. Did he? No. He avoided you but he also avoided all of us as well which is something you probably didn't see because you were so caught up in your own misgivings to pay much attention to anything else."

Marlene had spent many nights thinking the very same thoughts but as Remus laid it out for her, she couldn't help the guilt that had started to well up in the pit of her stomach. He didn't seem too concerned about sugar coating it for her.

"I'm sure by now that he has told you a little bit about his family. Sirius has spent the majority of his life being on his own; he has always only concerned himself with his own priorities and I think that you have to empathize with him a little bit that being in a relationship was sort of something new for him. I'm not saying that what he did or how he acted is right, but I think you need to try putting it into perspective to be able to fully appreciate the reasoning behind _why _he acts the way he does."

"James said something quite similar," she mused dryly. "But what I am more curious about than anything was how _you _forgave him for what he did so easily?"

Remus looked thoughtful for a moment as if he wasn't quite sure what to say. She watched his brows knit together in concentration, clearly trying to find the right words for whatever it was that he was thinking.

"I don't suppose it was ever a question of forgiveness," he finally said quietly.

"What do you mean?" she asked incredulously. "You were never angry with him?"

"Oh angry," he said quickly. "Absolutely. I was livid that he would risk Snape's life like that. It was devastating to learn that you had also been put in danger by it but it was never something I believed would hang over our heads forever. Sirius realized his mistake; he realized it the second that the words slipped out of his mouth and he didn't waste a single moment before trying to rectify the situation. Just as he risked Snape's life, Sirius has risked his life countless times by being my friend and for that I am eternally grateful to him no matter what blunders he makes in life. He is my friend and I owe it to our friendship to stand by him no matter what."

"You're a very good friend, Remus," she mused quietly. How could Remus, who's entire life and reputation had been put at risk at the hands of Sirius's carelessness, forgive him quite so easily and she had struggled to move past it.

"So clearly there's something else bothering you. I know you didn't flag me down just to talk about Sirius's integrity." he brushed off her compliment with ease.

"I don't know what teenage boys talk about," she admitted shamelessly "but Sirius said he wanted to be friends with me and I turned him away."

"Yes I knew that," Remus admitted.

"Alright," Marlene knew that she shouldn't be surprised by his admission. Of course Sirius was bound to talk to his friends about it. "Then I'm sure you know quite a bit more about what a horrible person I've been to him."

"You're not a horrible person," Remus scowled at her. "Stop tormenting yourself so much."

"I made a terrible mistake when I told him that," she said and it felt good to say the words out loud even if it wasn't to the person that should be hearing them.

"Have you told him that?" Remus stopped walking and turned to face her. The intensity of his gaze made Marlene uncomfortable and she had to turn her eyes away from him.

"No."

"I think it's quite obvious that you're miserable over the whole ordeal," Remus spared her the details of what he referred to as obvious. "Which brings me to the point I had been trying to get at earlier this evening, what in Merlin's beard have you been doing to yourself over this?!"

"I haven't had much of an appetite," she admitted shamefully. "I've just been so preoccupied and stressed over it that it hasn't really left a lot of time to dwell on food."

Remus looked at her skeptically. She knew that it was a poor excuse but she wasn't willing to allow him to guilt her into submission over it.

"So what are you going to do?" he asked her instead. She should have felt relieved for him to deflect the conversation from her declining health but his new topic of discussion was just as unappealing.

"I don't know," she said sadly. "I'm pretty sure it's too late now, I know I made a huge mistake but Sirius seems to have moved on and I don't even think I deserve another chance after the way I treated him."

"Maybe you should consider talking to him about it. How do you know it's too late unless you try?"

Remus as she suspected, was not going to divulge any information from private conversations with Sirius to her. As disappointed as she was not to know what was going on in his head, she also took it as a sign of good faith that he would honor his promise to her not to speak of their conversation.

"The thought crossed my mind," she recalled the previous evening when she had entertained the idea of striking up a conversation.

"I think that is an excellent idea," he said simply, "but first I think you need to eat something more properly than a muffin."


	25. Part Two: Chapter Five

Remus and Marlene returned from the kitchens about an hour past curfew. She knew that if Lily had been in the common room when she arrived back that she would be in an all new level of trouble than she had been in their previous year. Now that Lily was Head Girl she suspected that her oversight of Marlene's occasional late night traipses was not a force to be reckoned with even with Lily's one time momentary lapse in judgment when they had skipped class.

Luckily though, both girls appeared to have retired to their dormitory for the evening and the common room was filled with only a few stragglers. Not quite feeling the urge to go to bed, Marlene informed Remus of her intentions to finish the essay that she had been working on when he had interrupted her in the library.

"I'd join you," he said regretfully, "but the full moon is tomorrow and I really need my rest tonight."

Marlene nodded in understanding and bid him goodnight. She watched him trudge up the stairs to the boy's dormitory before rifling through her bag to continue working on the essay that lay forgotten at the bottom.

She was nearly finished the essay and was ahead of schedule for a change as she had spent the majority of her Saturday confined within the library, determined not to fall behind like she had last year. She had witnessed far too many students succumb to the pressures of their N.E.W.T.s and she did not desire to be one of them.

Despite the fact that the essay was near completion, Marlene scanned over the contents of her writing at least a half dozen times while making marks and adding notes that she had somehow forgotten to mention. By the time the clock in the common room chimed midnight she had grown weary of the Charms material and moved on to her Transfiguration notes.

They had continued on from their previous theory in sixth year regarding human transfiguration. The practical aspect of it was much more complex than she had originally anticipated but with Sirius's help during the last term, she had felt far more competent in her abilities and, despite the difficulty, she still managed to struggle less than she had in previous years.

Writing an essay on the subject matter was a completely different task than the practical though; she and Sirius had gone over so many notes and books and lectures on the matter that she felt like she knew it better than the back of her own hand. The essay came together quite nicely and for once she knew what it must feel like to have a natural knack for the academics.

_Watch out Lily! _She joked to herself but after scanning over what she had written, she had to admit that even Lily would be impressed with it.

The portrait hole swung open around a half past twelve as she was a few paragraphs into her second essay. She vaguely heard it open and close but had been so concentrated on her writing that she hadn't particularly paid attention to the additional company that had joined her until Sirius had plopped down into the space on the couch beside her.

"Hi," he said simply and Marlene glanced up at him with surprise.

"Oh," she was startled and her hand bumped the bottle of ink that had been sitting beside her. It splattered across the parchment and she let out a soft string of expletives as it slowly stained the words that she spent the better part of a half hour writing out.

"I'm sorry," Sirius said sincerely. He pulled out his wand and the ink disappeared from the pool that had collected around her but the damage had already been done to the essay and was unsalvageable.

"Its fine," she held back her annoyance. It hadn't been his fault exactly, but she was bothered that she had been so absorbed into her work only to have to start all over. "You're coming in a bit late aren't you?"

"Yes I suppose," he said with a small grin, "but you know me."

Marlene nodded. She hadn't noticed whether or not he had been accompanied with anyone else but the common room was empty and if he had been with someone, presumably James and Peter, they were long gone.

"Apart from the ruined essay," he said sheepishly, "how are the rest of your studies going?"

Marlene couldn't help but feel a little sad by the question. He was surely trying his best to make friendly conversation with her and she appreciated that he was making an effort at all.

"I suppose they are going well," she smiled at him. She noted the way that his eyes sparked by the light of the fire and the amusing glimmer that gleamed at her from them reminded her of a carefree Sirius that had been up to no good. She mentally wondered what he had been up too to be out so late.

"Remember my offer," he reminded her generously.

"Well since you ruined my essay," she said humorously, "you could write me a new one if you desired."

"Are you asking me to cheat?" his eyes lit up with amusement at the thought and Marlene laughed.

"Of course not," she rolled her eyes with disdain.

"You're wearing the necklace," the statement caught Marlene off guard and it took her a brief moment to realize that he was referring to the necklace that he had given her back in the summer for her birthday. Her hand instinctively shot up to touch the cool metal that was resting against her collarbone and she rubbed the charm between her thumb and index finger unconsciously.

She had nearly forgotten about it. She had pulled it out of her trunk a week into the semester while she was scrounging around for her standard book of spells. Normally it was hidden well beneath the layers of her school uniform but she had taken her sweater off earlier in the evening to get more comfortable.

Sirius was smiling at her and it was enough to make her heart skip a beat. She couldn't help it; she could feel the familiar blush creeping across her cheeks.

"Do you want it back?"She watched his smile flicker before she realized how incredibly rude she must have sounded.

"It was a gift," he said slowly. He looked contemplative. "Why would I want to take it back from you?"

"I'm sorry," she said hastily when it became apparent that Sirius was offended. "I really shouldn't have said that. I just wasn't sure if it's awkward that I'm wearing it." She could feel the embarrassment of the situation getting the best of her; why hadn't she just kept her mouth shut?

"Don't be sorry," he said softly. Marlene chanced a glance upwards to his face and noted that his brows had creased slightly with consideration. "It's only awkward if you make it that way."

"It's getting late, I should probably get to bed," she was getting uncomfortable and wished for nothing more than to hide away in her four poster bed. Her hand moved forwards to the table to grab her textbooks but she was pleasantly surprised when Sirius's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist.

"Stop doing that," he sounded annoyed and Marlene felt herself cringe slightly at the tone. He did not release her wrist immediately and only did so when the tenseness in her arm loosened a little. She allowed herself to drop her hand back to her lap as she looked at him expectantly.

"Stop doing what?" she couldn't help herself, although she knew better than to ask.

"Stop running away from me when things become uncomfortable," he said simply. Marlene looked up into his eyes and noticed that his creased brow was still prominent but he was examining her with much more deliberation than he had been previously.

"You're right," she sighed heavily and slumped back into the couch.

"I've been worried about you," he said finally after a few moments of silence.

"I know," she replied sadly. "You don't need to worry about me, I'm fine."

"Are you?" he seemed skeptical and raised an eyebrow to show that he did not believe her.

"It's been a rough couple of months Sirius," she said dejectedly. "I think you and I both know that this hasn't been the easiest of situations."

"It seemed pretty simple to me that night in Godric's Hollow," his voice was nearly void of emotion but Marlene was certain that she picked up a slight note of resentment. "You do remember that you told me you wanted nothing to do with me, right?"

"Yes," Marlene replied meekly. His piercing gaze made her shift uncomfortably and the lack of emotion left her mind reeling with curiosity for what could be playing around in his thoughts.

"I've been trying to understand," he pushed when Marlene made no attempt to speak further. "Do you really despise me that much?"

"Despise seems like such a harsh word to use." Marlene felt ashamed that he felt that way and she could feel an abnormally large wave of guilt pass over her. His expression didn't change much as he continued to stare questioningly at her.

"Perhaps you should elaborate on a more appropriate term," he suggested effortlessly. She squirmed uncomfortably in her spot on the couch but the motion didn't seem to faze Sirius.

"Of course I don't despise you," she finally said breathlessly. "I didn't know what else to say."

"Being my friend is that horrible, is it?" Sirius seemed rather infuriated now.

"Of course not," she cried desperately. "Sirius, what I did was terrible and I have no plausible excuse for lying to you other than when we broke up, things were not great between us. I am not saying that my behavior in this was acceptable but I really felt like I had no other choice at the time. Being your friend is much too painful."

"Do you know what's painful? Believing that the girl you love wants nothing to do with you. "

His words slapped her hard across the face. He loved her? She could feel her pulse quicken at his admission. She chanced a glance upwards to meet his eyes but she noticed that he had looked away and was staring out the window apparently deep in thought.

"Sirius – "

"I'm sorry," he interrupted her. "That wasn't fair. I'm not trying to upset you, in fact I had no intention of talking to you about this. It's just the necklace reminded me of something and I couldn't help myself."

"I'm so sorry Sirius." Marlene could feel the verge of tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't bear to see just how badly she had hurt him. "I never wanted –"

"You're right, it is getting late," Sirius said quietly interrupting her from finishing her thought.

She could sense that Sirius was finished with their conversation so she grabbed her book bag and removed herself from the couch. She hesitated in front of him but wasn't quite sure what it was she was waiting for. He had made it clear to her that he wasn't interested in speaking further on the subject and the results of their conversation hadn't panned out quite as desirable as she would have liked.

"Thanks for the chat Marlene," he said simply as she moved across him towards the staircase.

"Goodnight Sirius," she replied back with a slight hitch in her voice that she hoped he had missed. He didn't acknowledge it and only spoke to her again when she had taken her first step up the winding staircase.

"I'm glad you're wearing it," he called out after her quietly but she caught it before she had disappeared.

"I'm sorry?" she asked him with slight confusion.

"The necklace," he continued, "it looks good on you. I'm glad you decided to wear it."

* * *

><p>She couldn't help but notice the next morning that Remus had not been present during breakfast as she hadn't been expecting him to be gone so early. She wasn't the only one to notice this though; Lily had apparently been waiting for him to show up in the great hall before Potions and commented on his absence on their way to class.<p>

"Remus was supposed to do rounds with me this evening," Lily said with disappointment at the realization, "I completely forgot that he wasn't going to be here."

"I already told Remus that I'd take his place this evening," James had heard her from a short distance behind them. The group of students had been heading towards the dungeons and, surprisingly, Lily didn't seem all that disappointed by his offer or by the fact that he had obviously been listening in.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" she asked hesitantly. The two of them had been spending an awful lot of time on Head duties lately and Marlene suspected that Lily felt guilty that James had gotten roped into more work on his night off.

"It's no problem!" he said with assurance and Lily's smile widened genuinely.

It was a bit unusual to witness their exchange as anyone that had known James and Lily from previous years knew that they had been notorious for not getting along. Despite the fact that it was unnerving to see such a change in their encounters, it appeared to be equally amusing to the Slytherin students who had gotten wind of their conversation outside of the classroom.

Avery and Nott were snickering with whatever snide remarks had been made quietly within their group but it was Snape's paled expression of perverse revulsion that caught Marlene's eye. He was watching James and Lily with complete hatred but neither of them seemed willing to pay the group of Slytherin's any further attention. It appeared that Snape's initial attempt after the welcome speech to sabotage their relationship had failed miserably.

"Mind your own business," Sirius barked irritably at them as they passed by into the classroom and Snape's expression deepened. It was apparent that his dislike for Sirius had intensified since more recent events.

"What sort of potion are we brewing today do you think?" James settled into the chair beside Marlene while they waited for the remaining students to filter in around them.

"Draught of the Living Death," Marlene said dully as she rearranged her quills neatly on the desk in front of her.

"You think so, do you?" James said with an attempt at a joyful laugh and Marlene wondered how he could possibly have so much energy since she assumed he had been out with Sirius the previous evening.

"I don't think so," she said pointedly before directing her finger towards the board at the front of the room. "It says so on the board. What I'm curious about it how you could possibly have so much energy this morning?"

"Practice," he said with a cheeky wink but upon closer inspection she could see the tiredness etched into the lines under his eyes.

"How's Remus's mother doing?" Marlene knew that James would understand her question even if any prying ears did not.

"She's doing well this morning, resting for a few days I imagine before she'll be her old self again," he smiled politely and Marlene took his answer to mean that Remus was probably already in the hospital wing awaiting the full moon that would grace the sky later that evening.

"I'm glad to hear that," she said earnestly before she was interrupted by Professor Slughorn and the commencement of class .They were indeed introduced to the preparation for concocting their most difficult potion to date; the Draught of the Living Death.

Sirius had joined their table to wait for James like he normally did at the end of class. Nothing much had changed between them since their conversation the previous night; in fact he failed to acknowledge her presence like every other day and she was left feeling quite as defeated as she had before their encounter.

She was slightly more relieved to see that Natasha hadn't accompanied him to the table on this particular day like she had grown accustomed to. Marlene was tired of watching her witty attempts at flirtation with Sirius. Her unwelcome presence to her and James' station always left Marlene feeling nauseous and irritable and she knew that Natasha was purposefully gloating in Marlene's misery by the knowing smirks she wasted no time shooting at Marlene whenever she caught her eye.

Despite the hopefulness she had felt due to Natasha's lack of presence, she took his silence towards her as a sign that he was still considering their conversation last night. She was still trying to process everything that had been said and couldn't wait for the opportunity to talk to Lily about it.

She chanced a glance at him as she gathered her things and for a split second their eyes connected. She braved the first move and offered him a polite smile before moving away from the desk and joining her friends who were waiting for her at the door.

"It was much easier this time around," Lily informed Marlene and Mary on their way to lunch after they had concluded what Marlene had deemed to be one of the most miserable Potion classes in her history of Hogwarts.

"I imagine so," Mary said sarcastically. It seemed that she had had an equally dreadful attempt at the potion.

"Professor Slughorn did mention that everlasting elixirs were a bit more complicated but I think attempting it in its more difficult state gave me the definite advantage this morning," Lily continued on, clearly ignoring Mary's cynicism.

Marlene was surprised when James sidled into the seat beside Lily and even more surprised that Lily received him fondly. He was joined by Sirius and Peter and despite the slight tension that appeared as he sat down across from her, Marlene decided to make the best of it since Lily seemed to be enjoying herself.

"How'd you do with your potions, ladies?" Sirius broke the silence by asking both Mary and Marlene about the previous class. Mary didn't seem interested in responding so she shrugged her shoulders as a response.

"Oh you know," Marlene said slowly from beside her friend, "the usual."

Sirius laughed and Marlene felt the tension in the air lift slightly. She smiled at the sound of his laughter and appreciated the gesture. Mary wasn't quite as receptive, however, as she tugged on Marlene's sleeve eagerly.

"I'm not really hungry," she said impatiently "and you promised to help me with my astronomy chart before class tomorrow."

"Okay," Marlene was a bit confused since she didn't recall making such a promise. But Mary seemed rather adamant to leave lunch and Marlene got the feeling that it was important she follow.

"Lily?" Mary asked but Lily waved them off; it seemed she was engaged in a conversation with James about prefect obligations that she wasn't prepared to cut short. Marlene waved goodbye and left the hall with Mary.

"You're welcome," Mary said under her breath as they headed for the exit.

"You don't need to be rude," Marlene said irritably once they had moved from earshot of the table. It had been a friendly encounter with Sirius and she couldn't help but feel robbed of the opportunity to makes steps at moving forward.

"I wasn't aware that the two of you were on speaking terms," Mary said back with an accusatory tone. "I thought you would be grateful that I saved you from having to endure anymore of his company. Are you already forgetting what he did to you?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that," Marlene mumbled petulantly. "And I'd appreciate it if you let me handle my own business. I don't recall ever saying anything negative to you when you were with Davey."

Mary's brows creased but she said nothing further. Marlene knew that due to her on and off relationship during the previous years, Mary had nothing else she could say on the subject. It appeared that Mary knew this to be true and she refrained from making any more comments about Sirius.

"How's Paul?" Marlene attempted to change the subject and was rewarded with a more uplifted Mary than had been with her previously. She hadn't spoken much of her relationship with him but revealed that he had invited her to visit his family in Greece for the Christmas holidays.

"Isn't that a bit quick?" Marlene asked hesitantly when Mary indicated that she was planning to go.

"I don't think so," Mary shrugged while directing them out into the courtyard. "My parents really like him and encouraged me to go if I felt comfortable enough on my own."

This surprised Marlene a bit as Mary's parents tended to be rather overbearing.

"It does help that my grandparents have known his family for years," Mary offered as an afterthought. "And my parent's know that I'll be safe as long as I stay with my family while I'm there."

Marlene shivered slightly; the weather was starting to get much cooler as they entered into October and she hadn't brought a coat along. They had settled against a brick wall outside in the courtyard and at the conclusion of Mary's comment both girls were content to watch as the students around them filtered by.

"I know something is going on," Mary finally said after a few moments. "I thought it wouldn't bother me but the more I try to ignore it, the more annoyed I feel."

"What do you mean?" Marlene hadn't noticed much frustration from Mary but then again she had also been preoccupied in her own business to really know if she had been even paying attention.

"You and Lily," she continued. "Everybody just seems to be keeping secrets and I don't like being kept in the dark."

Marlene was a bit astonished to listen to her friend. She knew that she and Lily had lied about the situation involving the boys and Snape but other than that she wasn't quite sure what other instances Mary might be referring too.

"Do you care to elaborate?" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Well Lily is always off with James or doing head duties and you've been keeping to yourself a lot more than usual lately," she answered and it was not exactly what Marlene was expecting to hear. She almost breathed a sigh of relief as she realized she was not going to have to attempt another cover up.

"I can't speak for Lily," Marlene said after some consideration. "I know she's been really busy with her head duties and since James is head boy they are bound to be spending more time together. As for me, I've just been having a really hard time with my breakup with Sirius."

"Well I figured that much," she sighed heavily. "I just don't get why you won't talk to me about it."

"Would you want to talk to me about it if I was constantly belittling the person you still cared about?" Marlene said with a trace of irritation.

"I'm not really sure how you can expect me to think he's a good guy after what you told me –"

"He didn't cheat on me," she blurted out. Mary's eyes widened in disbelief.

"What?"

"He didn't cheat on me," Marlene repeated again more slowly. "I lied because it was just easier than talking about what really happened. We had a disagreement and things sort of unraveled from there."

"See this is exactly what I'm referring too," Mary huffed indignantly. "For whatever reason you felt like you couldn't talk to me. I bet you told Lily, didn't you?"

"I – " Marlene hesitated. Mary's question had caught her off guard for a fraction of a second but she attempted to compose herself before any damage could be done. "Why do you have to bring Lily into this?"

"You did, didn't you!" Mary had suddenly pushed herself away from the wall to swivel around and face Marlene. "I knew it. You two always lean on each other and leave me out. I don't get what I've ever done to either one of you to show that I'm not trustworthy."

"Mary, it's not a matter of trust," Marlene was trying desperately to turn their conversation around but Mary already seemed past the point of reasoning.

"Right," Mary was clearly angry. "I'm heading to class now. Come talk to me when you two have decided that I'm worthy of being your friend."

"Mary!" Marlene cried after her retreating figure with exasperation. She slumped back against the cool brick behind her and closed her eyes when she realized that her friend was not going to stop.

_I suppose I deserved that, _she thought bitterly to herself. For whatever reason she was continually being tested and her emotional stability seemed to be on the verge of its breaking point.

The rest of the afternoon flew by quite quickly and whatever mood Mary had been in had substantially subsided by dinner. However, she still seemed touchy when she joined Lily and Marlene in the common that evening and conversation was considerably more strained than usual.

"How were rounds?" Mary asked dully when she had finally joined them. Neither Lily nor Marlene knew where she had spent the better part of her evening and she didn't offer up the information voluntarily.

"Relatively uneventful," Lily replied back almost brusquely. It was rather evident that she also wasn't in good spirits and that something was bothering her. All around emotions seemed to be quite high between the three girls and Marlene wondered whether or not it was related to their heavy course load or something else entirely.

"Fancy working on some Charms?" Mary questioned her counterparts in an attempt to change the conversation. She looked a bit uneasy and must have also picked up on Lily's bad mood. Despite Mary's outburst in the courtyard earlier, she was not normally the type to engage in a fight with Lily. After all, Lily was known quite well for her fiery temper and too many disagreements between the two girls had never ended well for Mary.

"I'm all studied out," Marlene sighed with dejection. "I couldn't possibly imagine doing any more school work this evening."

"I'm inclined to agree," Lily said to the surprise of both Mary and Marlene.

"Oh alright," Mary said with a shrug and excused herself to find Alice in hopes that she might take her up on the offer. Marlene suspected that she was still too frustrated to bother making much more effort, especially since Lily was on edge.

"What's eating you?" Marlene asked curiously after Mary had departed.

"I'm just thinking," Lily trailed off from her sentence but it was apparent to Marlene that something was bothering her.

"Care to share?" without wanting to pry too much she attempted one last time to engage Lily in conversation about whatever thoughts were seeming to cause her duress.

Lily looked over at Marlene with contemplation and opened her mouth as if to speak. She shut her mouth quickly and shook her head with slight urgency as if catching herself from saying something she might regret.

"No it's nothing. James didn't already come in did he? He left before I did and I don't see him in the common room."

"No I haven't seen him since dinner." Marlene did not want to meddle any further but she was genuinely curious what it was that Lily was keeping from her. She couldn't help but think that her thoughts involved James and it was unusual for Lily not to divulge what it was she was thinking of when it came to this particular topic. It was apparent that she didn't want to talk about whatever was on her mind and Marlene knew better than to disrespect her privacy. Lily would talk to her about whatever it was that was bothering her when she was ready.

Lily's gaze moved towards the window and she became silent. Marlene followed her gaze and her eyes focused immediately on the full moon that beamed in through the glass. It was full and prominent and Marlene's thoughts drifted back to the time during last term that she had so carelessly wandered out onto the grounds on such a night. Although the weather wasn't too much different this evening than that one, she couldn't help compare the difference in circumstances that separated the two evenings.

She had been dating Sirius at the time and had been less aware of what dangers accompanied such an adventure out onto the grounds. She figured that James' whereabouts were more than likely related to their monthly traipses through the grounds but didn't feel that sharing this with Lily was appropriate since she still didn't know if she knew they were animagi. She couldn't help but wonder what sort of mischief they might get themselves into on this particular evening.

It seemed that Lily was also lost in thought. She continued gazing out the window at the moon until Marlene had interrupted her thoughts by announcing that she was heading to bed. Lily nodded with a slight smile before picking up a novel from her book bag and informing Marlene that she was going to read for a bit before joining her.

"Don't stay up too late," Marlene mock scolded her but Lily didn't bother replying as she was already absorbed in the book she had lifted into her face.

Mary was still somewhere in the common room, undoubtedly studying with Alice as she hadn't bothered coming back and she wasn't present in the dormitory. In truth, Marlene hadn't paid much attention to her friend's whereabouts until she discovered that she was the first and only person in their room.

It was an unusual feeling for Marlene, as she was generally the last to arrive and she took advantage of the privacy by taking a nice long and relaxing bath before putting on her pajamas and settling into her comfortable four poster bed. As she drifted off she could hear the faint traces of howling somewhere outside in the far distance. She couldn't help but feel like the slightly agonized echo was symbolic to the surmounting emotions that continued to plague her before she succumbed to the darkness of sleep.


	26. Part Two: Chapter Six

**A/N: ForensicGeek2, thank you! I was actually just thinking about this the other day as I'm well over a week or two behind on updating. I'm happy to hear that you are enjoying the story and I hope I won't disappoint with this chapter. Enjoy!**

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><p>"He said he loved you?!" Lily's astonished voice was raised slightly higher than normal and Marlene had to shush her as a few students in the common room had craned their heads in their direction.<p>

"Sort of," Marlene whispered hurriedly. "And could you please keep it down, we're attracting some much unwanted attention."

"Sorry," Lily said earnestly before shooting a couple of second years a reproachful gaze that caused them to scuttle up the stairs to their dormitory. "So what did you say?"

"Er – " Marlene fumbled to recall their conversation. It had been a few days ago and the opportunity to tell Lily hadn't presented itself willingly. Of course, Mary hadn't been hanging around them much since their quarrel but Lily had been disappearing quite a bit more than usual. Marlene was now seeing exactly what Mary had been referring to but despite Mary's belief that she knew all of Lily's secrets, Lily wouldn't budge on telling her what she was up too.

"Marlene McKinnon," Lily sighed with sheer exasperation. "I didn't think you could possibly make your situation worse than it already was."

"Thanks Lily," Marlene said bitterly. She had already felt bad enough but Lily's comment made her feel even worse.

"I'm sorry Marlene, that was completely inconsiderate of me," Lily smiled apologetically. "You know I'm not very good at this relationship stuff. I just wish you would walk up to him and tell him how you feel without worrying about everything else."

"Yes well, you're not the only one that wishes that," Marlene mumbled irritably. "Every time I try something just holds me back."

"Well I think that you're going to start running out of opportunities if you don't do something about it fast," Lily seemed thoughtful yet stern. Her statement caught Marlene a little off guard despite the fact that Lily had always been one to be blunt and speak her mind.

"What do you mean?" Marlene asked curiously.

"Well you two have been broken up for almost five months already," Lily started. Had it really been that long ago since she had ended things with him? "And despite the fact that you think your conversation with him the other night went horribly, I think you're pretty lucky that he is speaking to you at all. But honestly Marlene, he's only going to give you so many opportunities. If you don't give something back he's going to think you don't care and eventually he will give up."

"And I thought you weren't good at this relationship stuff," Marlene mused. "That was pretty insightful for someone who's never been in a proper relationship."

"I am the smartest witch in Hogwarts you know," Lily smiled wryly and both girls shared a laugh. "But seriously Marlene, I know you're scared of rejection but isn't that what love is all about? Putting yourself out there, being vulnerable and letting someone see every piece of you? I think that if Sirius didn't still care for you he wouldn't have said any of those things. Maybe he's just hoping that the feelings are mutual. If you keep quiet he's going to think they're not."

"I suppose you're right," Marlene sighed and threw herself back into the couch. She looked up at the ceiling and focused her eyes on a large wooden beam above her. "I know that I need to get over my fears and take the leap I just need to find the right opportunity to do it."

"You don't wait to find opportunity," Lily said adamantly. She was drumming her slender fingers along the edge of the arm rest impatiently. "You make it."

Lily was right of course. She was always right. Marlene knew that she was being offered great advice and it wasn't anything that she didn't already know. Hearing it from her best friend clarified it all that much more and she knew that she was running out of time.

"Also," Lily added. There was a slight hesitation to her voice. "I overheard Natasha Madley telling her friends that she was planning to ask Sirius to Hogsmeade this weekend."

"Why didn't you lead with that?!" Marlene's head snapped back from her focus on the ceiling to look at Lily's face. She looked nervous, as if she hadn't known whether or not to reveal that vital piece of information.

"Well I didn't know if it would encourage or discourage you for starters," she replied defensively. "But you don't want to wait to find out what his answer is, do you?"

"I should hope he would say no," Marlene said stubbornly.

"If he loves you then I don't see why he would say yes," Lily continued. "But I sit behind them in Potions class Marlene, she's very flirtatious and I wouldn't be surprised if the extra attention should sway his answer."

"Great, not only am I competing with my own worst enemy – my nerves and fear of rejection – I'm also competing with time."

"She hasn't asked him yet."

"How do you know there's a trip to Hogsmeade this weekend?" Marlene hadn't noticed any flyers go up on the bulletin and hadn't heard any buzz about it through the hallways yet.

"I'm head girl," Lily reminded her. "That and the posters just went up this morning. Maybe if you'd bring your head out of the clouds for a couple of minutes you would have remembered that you were standing beside me when I put one up here in the common room."

Lily pointed over towards the bulletin board where a fresh flyer advertising the weekend trip was hanging neatly in the center of the cork. Marlene felt slightly embarrassed as she recalled vaguely Lily talking about it this morning. Had she really been that focused on her own thoughts that she had subconsciously floated by through the day?

"We have potions tomorrow morning," Lily reminded her. "You should probably ask him before then."

"Wait," Marlene realized with horror what Lily was insinuating. "You think I should ask him to go to Hogsmeade?!"

"Isn't that what we've been talking about?" Lily asked with confusion.

"There was no mention of me asking him out. On a date." Marlene figured she probably had a dismayed look on her face but Lily waved her statement off with ease.

"There was mention of Natasha asking him to Hogsmeade. If you don't want him to go with her then don't you think it would be most appropriate that he was already going with someone else?"

"What if you were to go with Sirius this weekend?" Marlene asked lamely. Lily looked taken aback at the question and Marlene knew that it must have sounded quite silly.

"I couldn't go with Sirius even if I wanted too," she said slowly. "I already have plans."

"You do?" Marlene watched as Lily nervously twirled a strand of her red hair between her fingers. It was something she rarely ever did anymore and indicated that she must be feeling extremely uncomfortable. "Are you going on a date with someone?"

Lily opened her mouth to respond when a body dropped into the space between them on the couch. The soft impact of his weight on the cushions caused Marlene and Lily to bounce upwards slightly and James outstretched his arms against the back of the couch so that they were dangling dangerously close to Marlene and Lily's shoulders.

"Good evening ladies," he said cheerfully. Marlene felt her heart pound quicker than average at his sudden presence. She hadn't even been aware that he was in the vicinity, let alone close enough to intrude upon their conversation. Which, by the way, was extremely intimate and Marlene would be mortified to learn that he had overheard it.

"Oh hello James," Lily smiled politely. She ceased twirling the stray lock of hair and tucked it behind her ear instead. "We were just discussing Hogsmeade."

"Are you planning to go?" Marlene was surprised that James' question was not directed towards Lily and that he was looking at her for a reply.

"I don't know – " Marlene started to say but Lily cut off her sentence.

"Good evening boys!"

Sirius, Remus and Peter had suddenly appeared and were dropping into chairs around them. Marlene could feel the nape of her neck beginning to collect sweat as she realized that James may not have been the only one to overhear their conversation. But if they had, they gave no indication.

If Lily had planned this, she couldn't have done a better job. However, she seemed genuinely surprised to see them. Nevertheless, Lily shot a knowing look at Marlene as if to tell her to take advantage of it.

"Yeah I think I'll probably go for a bit," Marlene looked back at James and smiled. "I suppose there is too much studying and not enough fun around here."

"You have to make your own fun," Sirius laughed from the chair beside her and gave Lily a cheeky wink. Lily sighed and shook her head as if forcing herself not to take his comment too literally. She was, after all, head girl.

"What about you guys?" Marlene figured it was an easy way to feel out the situation and whether or not she should take Lily's advice.

"Oh I imagine so," Remus smiled at her from his spot beside Lily.

"I wouldn't miss an opportunity to see history in the making," Sirius laughed but was silenced after noting the cross look that James had shot at him. "What? Sorry mate."

"History in the making?" Marlene wondered curiously. She could still see traces of humor in Sirius's expression and even Remus and Peter looked amused. Marlene glanced over to Lily to see if she understood his reference and was surprised to see that she was twirling the same strand of hair between her fingers again. The only difference this time was that her face had paled slightly.

"It's nothing," James replied casually. "Anyone fancy a game of wizard's chess?"

"I haven't played in what seems like forever!" Remus chimed in and they pulled out a large chess board and began setting up for their game.

Marlene was still confused. It didn't seem like that big of a deal but she was curious why Lily had looked so nervous. She must have known what they were talking about otherwise she probably would have seemed more interested in finding out.

Her interest in the chess match dwindled quickly. Remus wasn't that aggressive of a player and the match became less interesting as the minutes on the large clock hanging over the mantle ticked by. She didn't seem to be the only one though; Lily had dug out a large textbook and was buried behind the thick cover and Sirius was twirling his wand between his fingers.

He stopped as if he could sense her watching him and his gaze shifted over to meet hers. She couldn't seem to pull her eyes away from him though. Normally she would have turned away in embarrassment at being caught but the humorous twinkle in his eye was addicting and she couldn't look away.

He was watching her intently, probably trying to figure out why she was staring at him.

"What's your favorite thing to do in Hogsmeade?" she felt bold enough to finally speak. "I mean, when you're not sneaking in there after hours."

"Zonko's is pretty fun," he smiled at her. "And the three broomsticks is always a nice treat too."

"Of course Zonko's," Marlene laughed quietly. "I don't know why I bothered even asking."

"How about you?" his grin widened. "Wait, let me guess. Honeydukes so you can stash up on your favorite: Fizzing Whizzbees?"

Marlene felt herself genuinely smiling that he had remembered. They had discussed it long ago during the first time they had ever visited Hogsmeade together; the day the marauders snuck her out of the castle and trusted her enough to be a part of their group. It had been the beginning of everything leading up to this moment.

"Are you going with anyone this weekend?" her elation at the fond memory had given her a new sense of boldness.

"Not unless Remus and Peter count," was it her imagination or had his smile faltered ever so slightly? "Are you going with anyone?"

"No," she refused to break eye contact. "Not yet."

"I see," he said carefully. The chatter from those surrounding them had become distant and undistinguishable. All Marlene could concentrate was the piercing grey eyes looking back at her.

"Maybe you'd be interested in meeting for a butterbeer at some point?" Marlene could feel her dry throat constrict, her breathing felt a little shallower and she could feel her heart hammering away inside at least double the speed of normal. Despite that, she remained focused on her task and continued on without wavering.

Sirius looked surprised. Even if it was for a moment, Marlene didn't miss the look of astonishment that passed over his expression. Of course, had she turned away like she normally would have, she probably would have missed it. His face relaxed almost immediately and the usual carefree playful smirk that she had spent so many occasions admiring appeared. Her heart fluttered to know that it was being directed at her.

"Yeah I'd like that," his grin widened and she could feel the corners of her mouth twitch upwards into a matching smile.

"Check mate!" James' loud voice from beside her made her stir from her reverie and turn her head to see that James had annihilated Remus's chess pieces. "Reigning champion upholds his title."

Despite James' more recently displayed levels of maturity, Marlene couldn't help but laugh out loud as a part of the egotistical James Potter she had known for years graced the common room as he taunted Remus's misfortune.

"I think I'm calling it a night," Lily said from behind her book. Marlene glanced at the clock and realized that it was getting late. As Lily collected her belongings James set up the chess board after Sirius challenged his title.

"We'll see how smug you are after I obliterate you," he smirked wryly to James.

"Boys," Lily sighed under her breath. "Are you coming up Marlene?"

"I think so," Marlene stifled a yawn. She wasn't really interested in watching another game and she had already succeeded in accomplishing what she had set out to do.

The boys bid them goodnight, Sirius offered a small smile to Marlene as their eyes crossed paths one last time, and as they were moving from the couch towards the direction of the staircase James called out after them.

"I'm looking forward to this weekend Lily."

"What was he talking about?" Marlene demanded after they had entered their dormitory and she had closed the door behind them. "What is going on this weekend?"

"It's Hogsmeade weekend," Lily was unusually quiet and was avoiding eye contact as she pulled her pajamas from her trunk.

"When you said that you already have plans this weekend," Marlene already knew where this was going but she needed to hear the words to believe it. "You weren't referring to James, were you?"

"And what if I was?" Lily's voice wavered slightly. She had turned a lovely shade of pink.

"Lily Evans," Marlene gasped. "You like James Potter!"

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><p>The rest of the week passed by in a blur amidst the ever surmounting pile of research essays they were being assigned by their professors. The weather had finally shifted into the promise of autumn and October was unusually colder than it had been in previous years. Lily had been disappointed at first since it meant that studying under their favorite tree by the great lake meant bundling in two or three extra layers. Even then, they were only able to tolerate about twenty minutes outdoors before having to retreat inside to the library.<p>

Marlene didn't mind though; she much preferred the atmosphere that the library provided both in terms of temperature and the silence that allowed her to concentrate. Outdoors there were far too many distractions and she was firm in her persistence to keep her studies a primary focus.

Lily still wouldn't acknowledge that she had any romantic feelings for James. Despite her unforgiving body language that contradicted her denial, Marlene knew that she had been right in her assessment. Initially Lily had pointed out that their trip to Hogsmeade was strictly head duty related. However, she couldn't provide enough evidence to support this and eventually stopped trying after noting the smug look that Marlene offered her every time she tried.

Mary had been spending an awful lot of time with Alice since their disagreement but she seemed happy and made no effort to settle with the girls. Lily didn't seem too bothered by this anytime that Marlene brought it up but she was rather known for her stubbornness and even if she was, in fact, unsettled with their argument, she was doing an excellent job hiding it.

The morning of Saturday arrived before Marlene had a chance to fully think about it and she was disdained to discover that her usual bundle of nerves had resurfaced as she awoke and realized what day it was.

"You're going to be fine," Lily said encouragingly. She looked as if she was trying to convince herself more so than anyone and Marlene was inclined to admit that she probably was. After all, she had detested James for the better part of five years and had somehow discovered herself in a position that opposed that.

After the two girls finished getting dressed for the day they wandered down to the great hall for breakfast. Mary was already there, sitting with Alice and engaged in conversation with a few of the sixth year girls that Marlene did not know by name. She smiled at them politely as they passed by her but made no motion to join.

"I wonder if she's ever going to get over this," Lily creased her brows as they settled into their seats halfway down the table from their friend. "This is just getting silly."

"I think we really hurt her feelings," Marlene felt saddened that she had been a cause of her friend's distress but Lily scoffed from across from her and shook her head. Clearly, she didn't feel the same way.

"Mary is a big girl," Lily said firmly. "She is almost eighteen years old and she needs to realize that not everything revolves around her."

Lily's words weren't meant to offend Marlene but she couldn't help but recoil slightly as she realized that she had been guilty of this not so long ago. Lily didn't seem to notice her trepidation and instead helped herself to the pile of toast in front of her.

"So what's your plan then today?" Marlene asked after she had poured herself a glass of orange juice. She hadn't noticed where the boys were as they didn't seem to be at breakfast and she hadn't seen them when they had left the common room. Lily didn't seem too concerned about their whereabouts though, so Marlene wondered if they had planned on leaving for Hogsmeade together or not.

"Well I thought we could hit up Honeydukes first," she replied casually in between a bite of her toast. "I need to pick up some more chocolate frogs to take home for mum at Christmas."

"I thought you were going with James?" Marlene was confused. This was the impression she had been under all week and hadn't planned to spend the day with Lily.

"We're not spending the whole day together," Lily looked mortified. "I've been trying to tell you all week that we have head duties to perform, it's not a date. I figured we could meet up with the boys for a butterbeer later on this afternoon before James and I have to work."

Lily didn't seem to want to diverge much else on the subject and Marlene was left frustrated with whatever information Lily was purposefully holding back. Her eye caught sight of Mary laughing at the far end of the table and she stopped herself from pressing Lily further on the matter; she knew that prying any further wouldn't do her much good.

"Alright," she said instead.

After the girls had finished eating they travelled out of the great hall to join the other students that were eagerly buzzing about Hogsmeade. As they exited the castle they were met with a cold gush of frosty wind and Marlene had to wrap her scarf around her neck to prevent herself from shivering hysterically. As they walked the familiar pathway to the small wizard village a few glistening snowflakes landed gracefully on Marlene's eyelashes and she looked up towards the dark grey clouds above.

"It's starting to snow," she said out loud to no one in particular and Lily looked up from beside her to see what she was looking at.

Sure enough, by the time they had entered Hogsmeade, a light flurry of flakes had graced their presence. There weren't enough to create any sort of lasting effect and each flake melted as it touched the ground below their feet.

The girls found their way to the Honeydukes shop and quickly hurried inside to escape the growing cold. As they made their way around the large candy bins, excusing themselves from running into the large number of students that had also hidden away inside the warm comforts of the shop, Marlene passed by a familiar container labelled cockroach clusters. She smiled when she recalled the fond memory of how she had observed Sirius eyeing them up and wondered what he had managed to use them for. She had never bothered asking.

It was easy to get lost in the store. There were so many things to look at and new exotic candies that hadn't been there the last time she had visited that she and Lily easily spent the better part of an hour exploring and selecting their purchases. By the time they had paid at the register it was nearing in on noon and Lily suggested that they visit the book shop quickly before meeting the boys at the Three Broomsticks.

As they neared the store, however, Lily suddenly tugged on Marlene's sleeve and pulled her from the bustling crowd and off to the side of a large building.

"Lily what –"

"Shhh," Lily shushed her hurriedly. She glanced around nervously before realizing that the crowd around them hadn't noticed their strange departure. They were quite clearly a fair distance from anyone and Lily breathed out in a sigh of relief.

"Are you going to tell me what is going on?" Marlene whispered quickly. This was not typical Lily behaviour and Marlene was starting to feel an unwelcome shiver racing up her spine.

"I can't tell you here," Lily replied back hastily. She was still glancing around nervously. "James and I will be leaving the Three Broomsticks at some point and I want you to follow me after."

Marlene looked at Lily like she had lost her mind. Although, the words she was listening to had convinced her that Lily _had _lost her mind.

"If you think James is going to try something – " Marlene wasn't quite sure what it was that Lily was afraid of but Lily shook her head quickly to show her that this wasn't the case.

"I can't say," she repeated. "I can't risk being overheard. Do you trust me?"

"Yes of course," Marlene breathed and she could see her breath from the cold. She shivered again, remembering now just how chilly it was outside and began missing the warm confinements of Honeydukes. She hadn't brought a warm enough jacket for this weather and wished willfully that Lily would get to the point so they could escape the cold.

"After James and I leave I need you to meet me at the Hogshead thirty minutes afterwards," she had dropped her voice even lower so that Marlene had to lean in to hear her. "Don't ask me any questions. Do you understand?"

Marlene nodded her head. Despite her confusion, she knew that Lily meant business.

"You can bring Sirius."

And then she yanked Marlene back into the street and began pointing out the book shop up ahead as if the whole thing had never happened.

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><p>When they finally entered the Three Broomsticks the warmth from the little tavern was welcome to Marlene. The snow had started falling much thicker in the time they had spent in the bookstore and by the time they had reached the Three Broomsticks their feet were leaving footprints behind them in the freshly fallen snow.<p>

"I wish I had worn a heavier cloak," Marlene finally admitted out loud as they passed through the threshold of the shop and looked around for an empty table. It appeared that nearly every other student had already beaten them to it though, and they were unable to find one unoccupied.

"I wonder if the boys are already here," Lily mused quietly. They started looking around for the familiar faces and spotted the mop of James' unruly jet black hair in a far corner at the back.

Marlene could feel the butterflies in her stomach fluttering. Lily intended to leave her alone with Sirius for at least the thirty minutes she had asked for and she wasn't sure if Remus and Peter would be there. She fought with her inner nerves as they struggled to push through the crowded pub towards the table.

Sirius wasn't there when they arrived but James was deep in conversation with Remus and abruptly stopped talking as they strolled up. He had looked like he was having an intense conversation but the sternness of his features disappeared as he caught sight of Lily. His face broke out into a wide grin as he greeted them and moved over to make room.

"Where are Peter and Sirius?" Lily voiced the question that had been floating around in Marlene's head. She was thankful that she wouldn't have to be the one to ask.

"Peter wasn't feeling good today," Remus answered simply. He looked quite tired, almost as if he should have stayed back too. "And Sirius is over there getting drinks."

Marlene glanced over to where Remus was pointing. She could vaguely make out the back of his head at the bar but there were so many students it was hard to be certain it was even him.

"It's bloody cold out there," James said with disgust. "You girls look like you're freezing."

"Yes I wasn't expecting it to get quite this cold today," Lily said with disappointment and Marlene watched with interest as James offered her his jacket. The confusion surrounding Lily's vagueness about her meeting with James was intensifying by the minute and Marlene couldn't wait to figure out what was really going on. "So what have we missed?"

"Well that couple of there," Remus pointed his finger towards two Revenclaw students that appeared to be either fourth or fifth years. "They've broken up twice since we got here about an hour ago, causing quite the show for everyone."

James was laughing as Remus said this. It didn't sound all that amusing but both boys seemed overly entertained about it. Marlene observed the couple in question quietly and noted that they looked quite miserable as they sipped on their butterbeers in silence.

"What were you girls up to this morning?" James changed the subject and Lily wasted no time telling him all about the new candies she had sampled at Honeydukes and the new book she had purchased.

Marlene wasn't overly interested in listening to Lily talk about their morning as she had already experienced it firsthand. As she filtered out Lily's voice her eyes wandered back over to the couple sitting a few tables away and watched them with disinterest. It appeared that they were arguing again but they were speaking very quietly and she didn't know what they were saying. Their fight was only apparent by their unsubtle body language and wild hand gestures.

Her eyes moved away from them and around the crowded pub. She could see Mary and Alice at a far table along with the group of sixth year girls she had seen them with at breakfast and wondered briefly what they were chatting animatedly about. After a moment her eyes trailed back over to the bar to where she had thought she had seen Sirius.

It was definitely him. He had turned slightly so that she could see his side profile. He wasn't making his way over to their table though and after a student that was blocking her view moved she could see why. Standing in front of him and talking enthusiastically was none other than Natasha Madley.

Sirius was smiling and Marlene could feel her heart sink as she watched their exchange. She couldn't bring herself to pry her eyes away from them despite how nauseous the sight was making her feel. Lily had mentioned that Natasha had wanted to ask Sirius to Hogsmeade this weekend but she hadn't believed that he would actually accept, especially since he had agreed to meet with her for a drink.

Natasha was giggling at something and moved her hand forward to give Sirius's arm a slight squeeze. He was talking and didn't attempt to pull away from her gesture.

"What do you think Marlene?" Lily's voice had floated back into the foremost of her conscious but it wasn't enough to pull her attention away.

"Hmmm?" she said instead but she wasn't listening as Lily repeated her question.

"I was asking what you thought about – Oh!" Lily's voice had trailed off after her exclamation of surprise. Marlene hadn't really heard it though because she was too focused on what it was that Lily had been taken aback by.

Natasha had leaned forward and was kissing Sirius.

Despite her inability to look away before, Marlene felt the tremendous lurch in her stomach as she watched Natasha's lips make contact with Sirius's and she had to tear her eyes away from them for fear that she might be sick.

"I need to go," Marlene couldn't contain the frantic edge in her voice. She didn't wait for a reply as she pushed herself away from the table. She could hear the trio talking to her but their words weren't comprehendible. As she forced her way through the crowded pub she knew that she was being a bit more aggressive than normal in her desperation to get outside. Suddenly, the warmth within the pub was stifling and she could feel her throat constricting in a need for a breath of crisp fresh air.

She pushed through a group of first year students but didn't stop to apologize to the one that stumbled backwards into a table. She reached the door and threw it open allowing a large gust of snow to pour inside and into her face. She didn't care and instead brushed the flakes from her and stepped out into the street.

She needed to get back to the castle and quickly. She had managed to contain composure long enough to make it outside but as soon as she was free from the confinements of the pub she could feel the salty tears begin rolling freely down her cheeks. Of all people that it could have been, why had it been Natasha?

The snow on the ground was piling up now and the grey clouds were dark an ominous above her. The once bustling street was beginning to dwindle as passerby's hurriedly moved through the snow covered pathways and into their intended shops.

"Marlene!" The voice came from behind her but was distant enough that she knew the owner wasn't close behind. She figured that it was Lily coming to check in on her but she was in no mood for her pitying looks and sympathy so she trudged on ahead without stopping.

She could hear footsteps hurriedly approaching from behind her and knew that Lily wasn't going to give up so easily.

"Look Lily, I'm really not in the mood at the moment," she had swung around fiercely but was astounded to discover that it wasn't Lily that was approaching her.

She quickly wiped at the tears pouring down her face as Sirius came to a stop a foot away from her. He was slightly out of breath from running and he looked extremely troubled.

"It's not what you think," he said quickly, a desperate edge to his voice.

"What are you talking about?" Marlene tried innocently enough but the look on Sirius's face told her that he knew why she was so upset.

"I didn't kiss her," he pleaded. There was no way that he had been able to see that she had witnessed it and she wondered which guilty party had been the one to break the news to him. "I didn't know she was going to do that, I swear it Marlene. I pushed her away the moment it happened."

"It's fine," Marlene forced a painful smile with her lie. She had no authority over what Sirius did with his life and he shouldn't need to apologize because she didn't like it.

"Is it?" he asked angrily. "No I don't think it is. I don't like Natasha that way and it wasn't okay for you to have to witness that."

Marlene shivered from the chill. Since she had stopped moving she realized just how cold she was and she moved her arms instinctively up to wrap around one another.

"Let's go inside and talk about this," Sirius held his hand out for her to take. He was still looking at her with concern.

"I just want to go back to Hogwarts," she shook her head. Sirius didn't seem discouraged and continued to hold out his hand.

"Then let's go back to Hogwarts," he reached forward and pulled her hand away from her arm when she made no movement to take it. The moment that his hand made connection with hers she could feel the familiar electric shock course through her body, warming her up almost instantly and her pulse quickened as his hand closed around hers.

"I love you Sirius," she blurted out without thinking. She watched him as his eyes widened in surprise and the hand holding hers relaxed slightly. She took advantage and pulled her hand away from his, pushed herself forward towards him and threw both her arms around his neck, pulling his face down and kissed him with such intensity that she wasn't sure he could breathe properly. But she didn't care; all that mattered was that she was finally kissing him again.

She had half expected him to pull away from her but his arms encircled her waist and pulled her into him. His lips tasted salty, no doubt from the remaining fragments of the tears that had been streaming from her eyes, but they moved against hers, eagerly matching the fervour that she had put forth when she had initiated the kiss.

After all the misery she had been feeling during the last few months she didn't know it was possible to feel so complete. Being with Sirius was everything that she had wanted and needed and kissing him left her feeling overwhelmed with delight. It was as though a missing piece had been found the moment their lips had connected and the familiar foggy sensation began to cloud her thoughts of anything unrelated to the present moment.

Marlene imagined that they could have gone on like that for much longer but a large explosion at the end of the street had vibrated at their feet and caused them both to pull away hurriedly. Sirius was looking behind her with creased eyebrows; his expression evident with concern.

"What was that?" Marlene breathed quickly. The sound had come from behind her and she followed Sirius's gaze to the direction from which it had emanated.

"I think we need to go," he said hastily. His voice was firm, unwavering, but he looked nervous.

There was a large billow of smoke at the end of the street and people were pouring out of the shops to get a better look. Marlene thought she could hear screaming in the distance so she turned back towards him and opened her mouth to voice this when her words got caught in her throat. A muffled and strained cry omitted instead.

"What's wrong?" Sirius looked down at her with alarm. Marlene pointed a shaky finger at something behind him and he turned around quickly to see what it was that she was pointing at.

"Deatheaters."


	27. Part Two: Chapter Seven

"We need to get out of here fast," Sirius had grabbed her hand firmly and pulled her quickly away from the center of the street towards the nearest shop. There was another loud explosion from the opposite end of the street and it was followed by piercing shrieks so terrifying that Marlene could feel her skin crawling with growing unease.

The crowds of people around them were only half aware of what was going on. Marlene could tell that the majority of people that were still looking around had no idea of the deadly situation that was creeping closer and she wanted to scream at them to get back inside. She couldn't blame them too much though; there were so many people that it was difficult to see anything clearly through the increasing smoke from the most recent explosion and the heavy snowfall that was still cascading around them. The deatheater that she had caught sight of had disappeared in the haze of smoke and she couldn't be certain where he or she was now.

Sirius's hand clenched around hers more firmly and he yanked her as close to the buildings as possible. She let out a small yelp as a man rushing past them in the opposite direction stepped on her foot but they couldn't stop long enough for her to concentrate on the pain.

A third explosion in the shop in front of them caused Sirius to skid to a halt and Marlene to crash into his back. It was apparent that now the people surrounding them were becoming more aware of what was going on and pure chaos was ensuing. Marlene could barely hear anything amidst the screams coming from around her and she looked frantically around to see people trampling over one another in their desperation.

The smoke from the most recent explosion had engulfed them, making it extremely difficult to see anything more than five feet away. Sirius had not released his grip on her but she could hear and feel his body coughing from the smoke.

"Are you okay?" she asked him hurriedly.

"I'm fine," he coughed again. She was fairly certain that he was lying but Sirius was not the type to admit to weakness. She didn't press him further and he moved slightly so that she was able to see what he had been blocking.

The building in front of them had partially collapsed and she watched in horror as a few mangled bodies lay scattered on the ground amidst the burning rubble. A woman was kneeled over one of the corpses screaming with such horror that Marlene felt her stomach churning; she knew that she would never be able to erase the haunting image from her memories. And just as quickly a blinding flash of green light shot out of the smoke towards her and the woman slumped over the body. The sinking feeling in the pit of Marlene's stomach told her that she was unmistakably dead.

"Sirius!" her voice raised an octave or two and she could feel him tense up beside her. He turned around and they headed back towards the direction that they had been moving; fighting through the frantic crowd, pushing people and desperately trying to get somewhere out of the firing range of the Avada Kedavra curses that had suddenly began shooting out of nowhere.

"We need to get to Honeydukes," he said loudly to her so that she could hear over the noise around them. At first she couldn't understand why he was adamant to make it to the candy shop but then her mind registered the secret passage in the cellar and knew that it was their best option at getting out of the village safely.

"What about James, Remus and Lily?" Marlene had temporarily forgotten about their friends. Her mind flashed to Mary and Alice too and for some reason the strange couple that had been fighting in the Three Broomsticks. Had any of them gotten out safely?

"Look at me," Sirius turned to face her. He had yanked her aggressively away from a loosely fired curse and they had taken cover at the side of an alley where a few other witches and wizards were hiding. He had her shoved her up against the wall as though his body were meant to protect her. "They are all very capable of taking care of themselves. The most important thing right now is that you and I get out of here safely and together. We cannot get separated, do you understand me?"

Marlene nodded her head. The commotion in the street seemed to be subsiding somewhat around them but they could still hear much activity from down the way where the Three Broomsticks was located. Despite his assurance, she was still apprehensive that their friends were a match against the death eaters. The hollowed image of the woman slumped over in the middle of the street returned to her thoughts and she could picture Lily's vivacious red hair and lifeless emerald eyes instead. Focusing on Sirius's heavy breathing was all she could do to steady herself.

"I think we're clear to go," he said suddenly and pulled away from the wall.

"You can't go out in there!" a middle aged wizard from beside them cried. "You're just children, you'll get yourselves killed."

He had grasped on to Marlene's arm and tugged her back; his vice grip dug deep into her skin, piercing the skin and drawing blood. She howled in pain but the man refused to let go.

"Get your hands off of her," Sirius bellowed fiercely and the woman that was standing beside the wizard lunged forward at him.

"How dare you speak to my husband that way you ungrateful child!" she grabbed a fistful of Sirius's hair and pulled him sideways. Marlene wasn't able to see much more because the wizard that had grabbed on to her arm had moved to block her line of sight.

She struggled with him momentarily, getting pushed further backwards into the cowering crowd away from Sirius, before a binding flash of red light shot through them causing the wizard to let go of her arm in an attempt to protect himself. The smoke travelled inwards, once again obscuring Marlene's vision and she was thrust sideways as the other panicked individuals around her became desperate to seek safety.

Her back was thrown into the stone wall of one of the buildings and she could hear the dull thud of bone contacting brick before the pain seared through her body and she realized that it had been her head. A wet trickle down the back of her neck indicated that she might be bleeding but she was too dazed to check.

"Marlene," it was Sirius. She could make out the dark figure approaching towards her but her vision was disoriented. She could feel his sturdy hands on her shoulders shake her gently but the overwhelming desire to sleep was strong enough to cause her knees to give out from underneath her and she could tell that she was slipping towards the ground. She stopped before she completely crumbled; Sirius had caught her and he was slowly easing her into a sitting position.

"I hit my head," she mumbled weakly, still feeling the wet stream of blood that was traveling down her neck and pooling into her sweater.

"I think you got hit with something other than the wall," Sirius's voice was wavering slightly but Marlene could feel it slipping away from her conscience. The alley was spinning too fast and she knew that she was moments away from losing consciousness.

"Sirius," the words felt difficult and she wasn't even sure they had come out the way she had meant them. She could only vaguely feel his hands around her waist, steadying her, before scooping her up into his arms and the hard ground beneath her disappeared.

"It's just a stun spell I think," he didn't seem certain. "It should wear off soon."

"You can't carry me," she meant to say but she wasn't sure that the words made any sense. Sirius didn't answer her.

After that it became much more difficult to decipher words. Marlene could still hear the chaos around her, there were muffled screams somewhere in the distance but they sounded so far away that Marlene wasn't even sure that's what they were. She could feel the swift motion of being carried and it was an unnatural feeling, having her body dangling in someone's arms and being shuffled around through a haze of smoke.

An odd sensation of peace washed over her and she couldn't help but recall a fond memory of her parents waving goodbye to her at Kings Cross station on her first day of school. She had been so nervous, but yet excited, and their smiling faces and warm reassurances that they would be there to pick her up at Christmas was enough to get her by. Suddenly though, the empty space where her parents had been standing was only an empty reminder that her parents had been murdered and her memory quickly shifted to the cold emptiness of the house they had once occupied; still destroyed from the attack that had taken their lives were broken picture frames and the smell of something burning.

Uncle Tom was there then, attempting to comfort her but he was much too awkward and didn't know quite what to say. She was pulling away from him, shutting herself away from those she cared about in an attempt to forget her misery. Quite suddenly she was in the plain and unfamiliar bedroom that she had occupied at his house during the summer months, a place that she had become so accustomed to hiding, staring up at the ceiling on that warm and sunny day that she had run into James and Sirius in the village square.

_Sirius. _

Then she could smell it. It was thick and potent and reminded her of an unpleasant odor that she had experienced during one of her detentions with Professor Slughorn in the dungeons. The scent filled her lungs and made her feel heavy; unsteady. As it overpowered her senses she could feel the urgency to expel her lungs of the poison and she omitted an unwilling cough.

And then she could hear the sturdy beating of Sirius's chest pressed up against her ear. It was unnaturally fast and his breathing was ragged and uneven. She could feel herself jostling around in his arms and she knew that she was regaining consciousness and that she was slowing him down.

"Ugh," she could finally feel the pain shooting from the place where her head had connected with the wall and it was enough to bring her back into reality.

"Glad to see you're back," Sirius's relief was apparent in his voice but he wasn't smiling.

"Put me down Sirius," Marlene tried wiggling around in his arms and she could feel his grip tighten around her instinctively.

"Are you sure you're okay to walk on your own?"

"Yes."

He stopped moving and it was the first time that Marlene was able to look around. They had moved away from the alley where they had been hiding and were now moving with a crowd of people. It appeared that the smoke was dissipating and visibility was becoming a lot easier to come by.

"The smoke was actually shielding us from detection," he muttered into her ear before placing her on to her feet. His arms were around her, steadying her, until he was certain that she wouldn't collapse. Once he pulled his arms away she felt momentarily disappointed that their bodies were no longer connected but she quickly suppressed the feeling and instead focused her attention on what is was he was saying.

"Sirius, Marlene," the sound of a familiar voice floated through the air. James was fighting his way through the crowd towards them and he was followed closely by Lily's distinguishable red hair.

"Where's Moony?" Sirius's brows creased as his eyes scanned around for their friend.

"He went to help Frank, Alice and Mary," Lily had caught up. "Are you two alright?"

"Marlene was hit with a stun spell and smacked her head pretty good," Sirius said quickly and Marlene ignored the worried eyes that were trained on her. "She went unconscious for about ten minutes and just woke up."

"Are you okay?" Lily sounded extremely worried. Her eyes were misting with tears but none seemed to escape.

"I'm fine," Marlene knew that she was lying; the pain pounding from the back of her head was intensifying with each passing second and she still felt slightly disoriented. She shifted her weight onto her left leg and felt an immediate wobble but Sirius's hands shot out automatically to catch her.

"You're not fine," he said sharply. "We need to get out of here and you're not in a very cohesive mind. Just let me carry you, Honeydukes isn't far away."

"You are not going to carry me any further," Marlene was being stubborn. "I am slowing you down. Don't worry about me, the fuzziness is subsiding."

"Honeydukes," James seemed to be mulling over the idea. "I hadn't thought about that before."

"Honeydukes?" Lily sounded incredulous. "Why on earth would you be thinking about candy at a time like this?"

There was another explosion about twenty feet away and the debris from the targeted building across the street erupted into a stream of flying rock and shattered glass. Lily's question went unanswered as the group of teenagers braced themselves for the blow. James had grabbed Lily's arm and pulled her towards an opposite building, ducking behind a large wooden post on the veranda while both Sirius and Marlene threw their bodies behind a large garbage bin on the other side of the porch.

"Oh," Lily's voice rang out through the crumbling brick and shrieks of the other witches and wizards around them. Marlene looked over towards her friend just as Lily was pulling a large shard of glass from her leg and watched as blood flowed freely from the wound.

"It's nothing serious," James called over to them after quickly kneeling down to look at it. "It's just a superficial flesh wound."

"Oh thank goodness," Marlene breathed a sigh of relief.

They weren't the only ones taking cover and it was the first time since the alley way that she took notice to other people around her. There were a group of first year students, crying hysterically, and a few middle aged witches trying to comfort them. One of the witches had a large bloody gash across her arm and was soaked in blood but the wound didn't seem to be severe enough to warrant such a mess. Marlene figured that the blood had probably belonged to someone else and she shuddered at the thought, willing herself not to think anymore about it.

James and Lily hurried over, ducking down to miss more crossfire from scattered hexes, and kneeled beside Sirius and Marlene. Lily's cut had already stopped bleeding but she was wincing from the pain as she moved.

"The shop is just across the street that way," Sirius was pointing a few buildings down from the one that had just been destroyed. It also seemed to be where the heaviest amount of activity was still brewing.

"Are you sure we can't make it to the Hogwarts entrance?" James was looking off towards the direction in which Sirius was pointing. He looked contemplative, almost as if he was forming some form of a plan, but he also looked discouraged and Sirius's shaking head was enough to put a look of defeat on his face.

"Alright ladies," Sirius couldn't help but force a grin, "get your wands ready. Remember everything you've been taught in Defense class? Evans, I know you've got a killer arm when it comes to charms so make sure you've got a few good ones up your sleeve."

"We're not going into that?" Marlene looked apprehensively at him but she already knew the answer to her own question.

"The school must already be on their way down to help," Lily's voice sounded off. It was the first time that Marlene had ever truly seen her shaken at a challenge.

"Probably," James said flatly "but there are at least a few dozen death eaters here and with all the students and the smoke it's going to be hard for them to distinguish the innocent. We can't just sit here and wait for them to save us; we need to get out of the confusion."

Marlene knew that James was right. They couldn't just sit still and hope that someone would save them. She had already been hit with a curse once and they were abundant now as they neared closer to the heat of the battle. Their best option was to get out.

"One more thing," Sirius held his arm out to stop James who had begun moving forward. "We pair up. Don't stop moving."

James gave him a hard look but nodded. "Lily, you're with me. Let's go."

Lily looked as if she wanted to say something but she closed her mouth and didn't object. She glanced briefly at Marlene before disappearing behind James into the haze of smoke billowing through the street.

"Alright McKinnon?" Sirius was looking at her with an amused smile.

"How can you be joyful at a time like this?"

"Don't mistake joy with determination," he said plainly but he beckoned her to follow him and his body disappeared into the haze after their friends.

Marlene dashed out after him but the blanket of smoke was so thick that her vision became blinded almost instantly. The familiar aroma of burning flesh and death filled her lungs once more and her hand shot up to cover her mouth. She had to suppress a fit of coughing but it was painfully difficult to breathe. Her eyes began to sting with tears from the intensity of the thick cover she was walking through and she blinked fiercely in order to clear her vision.

A jet of green light shot out in front of her and she could hear the scream of a man being hit only a few feet away. And then silence.

Marlene screamed.

"Sirius!"

There was a sound of scuffling feet and the blood rushing through her ears but she couldn't hear him answer. She could feel the overpowering urge to vomit and she stumbled backwards, tripping over her own feet and falling backwards into the snow beneath her. The wand in her hand rolled a few feet sideways and her other hand, the one she had reached out to brace her fall, hit a large jagged rock. She felt no pain; all she could feel was the uneven breathing of her chest and the numbness spreading through her body like wild fire.

There was muffled yelling from somewhere in front of her and another jet of red light shot out of the smog towards her, narrowly missing her arm. The dust settled and she could see the body lying in front of her of the man that had been hit with the killing curse. His face, contorted with horror was positioned to face her and his eyes, glazed over and completely void of life.

Marlene felt the heaviness leave her chest. It wasn't Sirius.

"How sweet," a woman's voice, unrecognizable to Marlene drifted towards her. The black shoes appeared before the rest of her; dressed in all black with the hood of her cloak lowered, exposing her manic black curls. She was young and Marlene believed she could have been beautiful but her smile was twisted with grotesque malice. "You know my cousin? It will be so much more meaningful when I kill you then."

Marlene watched as the woman raised her wand but her will to live was stronger than her fear. She rolled sideways out of the way of the incoming curse and grabbed her wand that had become detached from her hand during the fall.

"Expelliarmus," Marlene said forcefully but her curse was deflected with ease.

"Oh a feisty one," the woman was laughing sadistically and the sound of her voice made Marlene feel sick to her stomach. She pulled herself to her feet and made a dash out of the way of another hex.

"Stupify," Marlene could hear another voice in the distance and it momentarily distracted the woman long enough for Marlene to continue racing forward towards the direction she assumed was Honeydukes. She still hadn't seen Sirius since they had been separated but it was difficult to see much within a five foot radius. Despite the fact that the smoke from any previous explosions was finally dissipating, the snow was still falling heavily around her. All she could do was hope that her friends had already made it into the store.

"Marlene," it was his voice. Marlene stopped running, whipping her head around to find where the voice was coming from and she could vaguely make out his shape racing towards her from the location that she had been running from.

"I'm over –" Marlene's voice caught in her throat as the impact of a curse made contact with her stomach. Her hand instinctively flew to the spot above her hip and she flew backwards into a large pile of snow.

_I'm still alive. _She thought quickly as she realized that she could still see Sirius running towards her.

"What did you do?!" he was screaming but her ears were ringing and suddenly her vision was becoming obscure again. There was a high pitched laugh somewhere but suddenly it didn't matter much anymore, Marlene was too focused on the pain piercing her stomach.

She pulled her hand away from her body and all she could see was red.

_Blood._ And lots of it.

"Get up," Sirius was at her side. How had he managed to get there so quickly? "Hurry up Marlene, get up we're almost there."

"Sirius, the blood…"

"We'll clean you up inside, Marlene, I need you to move. Now!"

Marlene still wasn't used to hearing Sirius desperate. She looked into his face but she wasn't able to remain focused on the image. It was just a smear of colors amidst smoke and falling snow. She imagined that he was looking concerned; she had the memory of that engrained in her mind and it was easier to visualize than concentrate on focusing her vision.

"There's so much blood."

"James," Sirius was yelling. "I need some help here."

"It's such a lovely shade of red, isn't it?"

Marlene could only see red now. The blood had stained her hands, her clothes, and the snow pile that she was sitting in. All around her the blood pouring from her body was covering like a blanket of thick red velvet and if it wasn't a dire situation, Marlene felt that it might have been beautiful. She wasn't thinking straight now, all that mattered was gone from her mind.

"I think I'm dying," she said calmly.

"You're not dying," Sirius's hands grabbed the sides of her face and pulled her gaze to meet his. Their noses were touching and the proximity was close enough that she was able to see his face without it becoming distorted. His grey eyes were fierce and dancing with emotions that she had never seen before. "Marlene, I need you to remain conscious. Do you hear me? Do not fall asleep, we are going to get you help and you will be fine."

"What do you think death is like?" she could feel the familiar tug of sleepiness like she had when she had been hit in the alleyway. Marlene knew that this time she had not been stunned though.

"I don't know and neither should you," he barked angrily. "James!"

"I'm right here," she could hear him but his shape was far too fuzzy to distinguish. "God, Marlene, what happened to you? Do you think she can walk?"

"No," Sirius's voice wavered. Marlene could feel his hands where she had been hit and his sudden intrusion caused such a violent wave of pain that she screamed.

"We need to get her inside before they come back," it was Lily now, her soft footsteps were approaching. "Why are you guys still sitting here …and where is all that blood coming from – Marlene!"

A gasp. And then her sobs were muffled.

"It's that bad is it?" Marlene could feel the corners of her lips smiling despite the fact that the situation wasn't at all humorous. She glanced down and it was still red.

"We need to carry her," she could hear someone saying but she couldn't tell who anymore. Black spots were obscuring her vision.

"We need to stop the bleeding first or she'll bleed to death."

"I've been trying, the wound won't heal."

The voices were becoming frantic. Distant.

She could feel her frail body being lifted by a pair of strong arms and the familiar musky scent of Sirius reminded her of the sweater he had loaned her back in the summer. It was invigorating, comforting. She regretted hiding it away in the bottom of her trunk but she hadn't been able to bring herself to give it back; while she still had it, there was something left to hold on to. Marlene smiled into his chest, breathing it in like it was the purest oxygen. His arms wrapped around her and she felt the safety of his embrace. There was no better way to die, surely.

And then Marlene closed her eyes.


	28. Part Two: Chapter Eight

**A/N:** Wow. When I posted the last chapter I knew that I was being slightly mean with the cliffhanger but I didn't anticipate getting as many reviews and messages as I did. Sorry for leaving you hanging ;) I thought I'd give an update earlier since you've all been so wonderful with the love. Keep it up! I love hearing from you :)

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: St. Mungo's<strong>

When Marlene managed to open her eyes again all she could see was white. It was quite the contrast from the red she had been so focused on during her last round of consciousness that she had to blink a few times to allow her eyes to adjust. Her memory was still hazy; apparently blinking could adjust your vision but it did no good for lost memories.

_Am I dead?_

She looked around at the white walls and noticed that she was lying in a bed and a white curtain was drawn down the side. It looked similar to the infirmary at Hogwarts but she knew that it was not the same. She shifted her weight in the bed and the intense throbbing from somewhere in her abdomen shot through her body and she unwillingly omitted a cry of pain. She was most certainly not dead.

"Try not to move too much," a voice from behind the curtain broke the silence. A hand moved around the curtain, clenched the white fabric and drew it back so that an attractive young man in his early twenties came into view.

"Where am I?' Marlene mumbled quietly. Her hand reached instinctively around for her wand but it wasn't anywhere within reach.

"St. Mungo's," he said simply but he wasn't looking at her. He was scribbling away on a chart in his hands as he moved around the bed towards her. "My name is Patrick. I'm one of the healer's here that has been looking after you."

"St. Mungo's," Marlene repeated absently. Her eyes scanned the room again with her new found information and decided that he must be telling the truth. She had never been to St. Mungo's before but it did look a lot like she imagined it would.

"Do you mind if I take a look?" he was asking but had already drawn the blankets down from Marlene's side.

"Do I have a choice?"

"You always have a choice," he smiled. "But I need to check the damage so if you say no then I have the choice to administer some pretty powerful sleeping potions so that I can do my job properly."

Marlene laughed a bit but stopped when it became painful and grimaced instead.

"Does that hurt?" he asked her. She looked at him dubiously; she had thought it was obvious enough.

He lifted her shirt enough so that she could see bandaged wrapped around her stomach. The familiar sight of red met her gaze and Patrick's eyebrows creased as he scribbled away again on his notepad. The blood looked fresh and was slowly saturating the white bandages as Marlene continued to stare down at it.

"I'm going to have to take the dressing off," he said after he had set the clipboard down. "You can turn away if you don't want to see."

"I'm sure I've seen worse," she said quietly. She wasn't lying, she truly believed the memories of the numerous dead bodies scattered around Hogsmeade would impede her thoughts much more than the sight of a little blood.

"We've had an extremely difficult time with this wound," he said while unraveling the bandage and Marlene couldn't pry her eyes away as his hands moved methodically. "We still haven't been able to figure out what hex you were hit with but it's not an ordinary one we've ever seen before. It can't be cured by magic."

"What do you mean it can't be cured by magic?" Marlene asked with surprise. She wasn't aware it was possible. "Apart from Avada Kedavra, I thought magic could be used to fix anything?"

"Ah ever the optimist," Patrick looked into her eyes for the first time. His brown eyes were energetic; it was evident to Marlene that he was enjoying his job. "Most things can be repaired with magic, but there are just some hexes and curses that cannot be reversed. Whatever you got hit with is a clever little creation and I'm sure there is a cure for it, we just have to find it."

His hands had finally moved the last bandage off her waist and she drew her breath in as her eyes caught sight of her stomach. A long gash from the side of her hip, creeping along her abdomen just above her bellybutton and ending in the middle of her ribcage, was sewn together with bloody stitches. The wound had pulled apart slightly and a new trickle of blood was pouring out around dark bruises that covered the rest of her skin. Marlene couldn't help but stare at her mangled stomach; it was even worse than she could have imagined it to be.

"Not the prettiest thing to look at," he said sadly. His hands brought gauze to the wound and he started cleaning up the fresh blood. Marlene finally had to look away.

"Why is it still bleeding?"

"Well that was the biggest problem with the curse," his hands put pressure down on her and she winced. "Sorry," though he didn't sound all that remorseful. "You nearly bled to death because the curse was designed to not stop bleeding. No amount of magic spells or potions could stop it. You're lucky you've got some smart friends otherwise you and I might not be having this conversation right now."

"What do you mean?" Marlene hadn't even thought about anyone or anything else yet and at his words she was suddenly reminded that she had not been alone during the attack. She struggled to sit up straighter. "What happened to them?"

"They're fine," he said quickly in an attempt to ease her. "You can't move too much or get too upset because it just reopens your wounds, see?"

Marlene looked down again and noticed that the wound had started bleeding again from when she had shifted. She slumped back down into the bed begrudgingly so that Patrick could clean it up.

"The girl, she was smart enough to think about stitches when they realized magic wasn't working. It's a muggle thing but it was enough to do the job long enough to get you here so we could figure out something more permanent. It looks like stitches are the best bet though; they'll give your body the chance to close the wound. These stitches are a bit sturdier than the ones muggles use; they're magically binding so that they won't break. That still means you need to take it easy for a while so that they have the opportunity to do their job. If you move around too much then it's just going to take a lot longer."

"How long have I been here?"

"About three weeks," Patrick's hands began to re-wrap the wound and he seemed nonchalant about the fact that she had been unconscious for so long.

"Three weeks?" Marlene nearly cried. She had to try to refrain from moving too much but Patrick's hands on her stomach helped to keep her steady. "I have been unconscious for three weeks?"

"That's not uncommon when you've lost as much blood as you did," he shrugged slightly but didn't look up at her again. "We've been keeping you in a sleep state for most of the time because you've been in so much pain."

"I've been awake before?" Marlene couldn't recall any memories of St. Mungo's, she was still having a hard time remembering the events that had led her into the place.

"Yes and no, you've been in and out but quite groggy. Most of the time you woke up screaming so we just put you back out again. You hit your head pretty good too during the attack so that wouldn't surprise me if that's contributing to how little you recall."

"How long will I have to stay here?" Marlene was suddenly faced with the thought of how far behind she must have gotten in her three weeks of absence from school. She didn't want to think about how much more she would be required to miss.

"If you don't keep ripping open the wound and your body cooperates at healing I'd say you should be clear to leave in another three or four weeks from now."

"Three or four weeks," Marlene couldn't help the sharp rise in her voice. "But I have N.E.W.T.s to prepare for, I can't miss that much more time!"

"You're lucky to be alive," he glanced back at her and his demeanor had changed. He was slightly less energetic than he had been when he first entered the room.

"Of course," Marlene mumbled with embarrassment. An image of the horrified face of the man that had been killed in front of her flashed through her mind; his lifeless eyes glossed over, staring at her, sent a shiver up her spine. She knew she should be grateful and not worried about her schoolwork. "Has anyone been by to see me?"

Her thoughts quickly drifted from school back to her friends. If she had been unconscious for three weeks already, she couldn't imagine how worried they must be about her. Her longing desire to see Sirius again created a new ache in her chest and she couldn't bear the thought of waiting another month to see him again. And Lily, how could she possibly ever repay Lily for her ingenious thinking that had saved her life?

"Unfortunately not," Patrick offered a half smile. "And not for lack of trying, you have some pretty determined friends I'll say. We have a limit to the amount of visitors allowed in the hospital right now, what with all the attacks going on and the chance of an attack on the hospital so high. We aren't allowing any visitors right now unless by Ministry clearance."

"What about my Uncle Tom?" Marlene wondered briefly if he had tried to visit her.

"He's been in and out but I'll let him know that you're awake now. Are you hungry at all?"

Marlene didn't realize how hungry she was until he asked and she could feel the angry rumble of her stomach reply. "Starving," she said and Patrick smiled before disappearing out of the room to grab her something to eat.

Uncle Tom made his appearance in the middle of her meal. She was shoveling a spoonful of mashed potatoes in her mouth when the door at the entrance to the room flew open and he came barreling in, frantic at first, but a large grin spread across his face as he observed her eating.

"Oh thank goodness," he exclaimed before rushing over to the bed. He dropped a bag on the floor and then hesitated like he wanted to give her a hug but decided against it and gave her shoulder an affectionate squeeze instead. "The healers told me to take it easy on you; I'll have to try to remember to be careful."

"It is such a relief to see a familiar face," Marlene said happily after she had swallowed her mouthful of food. "Patrick told me that I've been here for three weeks?"

His face looked solemn and he nodded his head to confirm. "I got the message after they had already brought you here but you were in such a severe condition that they wouldn't let me see you for the first two days. I've been stopping by every couple of days to check in on you, told them to let me know the second you woke up."

"What about my friends? Can you get them clearance to come see me?" Marlene asked hopeful. She knew that Uncle Tom was her legal guardian so it was obvious he was allowed clearance into the hospital. Even if he wasn't, he was a ministry official and wouldn't likely have a difficult time gaining it so it shouldn't be too hard for him to grant her friends clearance too.

"They've tried numerous times," he sighed before sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked tired, like he hadn't slept very well recently; dark circles were rimming his eyes. "That boyfriend of yours is pretty persistent though. Even after they were told you weren't allowed visitors he caused quite the riot breaking past security to get in here. I don't really have the sufficient connections to grant them clearance for visitation though I'm afraid."

"He broke past security?" Marlene couldn't help but smile at that. Not like it would have done him any good anyways, she had been unconscious at the time but it was still nice to know he was so determined to see her.

_Boyfriend. _They hadn't had enough time before the attack to really process much. Had he told Uncle Tom that he was her boyfriend? Or had he just came to the conclusion because of Sirius's actions? Was Sirius really her boyfriend again? There were so many questions floating around in her head that it hurt and she was pained that she wouldn't get to ask them for quite some time.

"Yes I'm afraid so," Uncle Tom chuckled, "he caused quite the commotion in the process. I reckon many people thought the hospital was under attack. Even if I could get him access in here, I'm not too sure they'd want him back in here after that."

Marlene smiled. She wouldn't expect anything less from Sirius Black.

"By the way, I've spoken with Professor McGonagall," his expression turned serious, "and they've minimized the homework you'll need to complete to catch up with the rest of your class so that you don't fall behind for N.E.W.T.s. I brought some of your textbooks along and a list of assignments you need to complete by the time you return. I imagine you'll have plenty of time to work on it during your stay."

Marlene groaned at the thought. She knew that she was lucky enough to have her Professor's sympathy with her situation and she was grateful they were going to take it easy on her but the last thing she wanted to do was focus on her studies knowing that it would be such a long time before she was able to see her friends again.

Uncle Tom reached towards the floor and pulled up the bag he had brought with him. He set it on the table with a loud thud and offered her a sympathetic smile. "I have to get back to the Ministry now, there's lots going on that I need to be there for. I'll be back every day to check on you but just let the Healers know if you need to see me, okay?"

Marlene nodded her head and Uncle Tom gave her another affectionate squeeze before wishing her goodbye and sweeping from the room. After he had disappeared from the doorway Marlene reached across to the table beside her bed and pulled out a letter from her book bag. In McGonagall's neat handwriting she had listed various pages and chapters for reading along with a number of essay topics that she'd be required to complete.

As Marlene's eyes scanned the 'simplified' list she couldn't help but let out an exhausted sigh. It was going to be a very long three or four extra weeks indeed.

* * *

><p>It was the next day that Marlene found herself in the company of a roommate. The bed beside her had apparently remained unoccupied during the time she had been unconscious but during the particular rainy afternoon while Marlene was working on a Herbology essay a young woman a year or two older than her was brought in.<p>

"Oh good," the girl's voice had been the first indication that she had company in the room, "you look positively normal."

Marlene glanced up to the doorway to see the brunette strolling in with a different Healer she had never met before. She was dressed in a hospital gown and threw herself into the bed next to Marlene while the healer scribbled away on a chart before handing over a cup of something steaming. The girl guzzled it down before her face twisted in revulsion and she muttered a simple "yuck."

"I'll be back in a few hours to check on you," the Healer said in a stern voice, "please try to behave with this one."

"She's kidding you know," the girl laughed after the Healer had moved from the room. She had turned her face towards Marlene and grinned widely as she said it. "It was really my old roommates fault, she was absolutely batty."

"Er – "

"I'm Emmeline," she continued, "Emmeline Vance. Hogwarts?" she was pointing towards the textbooks scattered around on Marlene's bed and table. "I finished at Hogwarts two years ago. Ravenclaw. How about you? You look like a Hufflepuff to me. Please don't tell me Slytherin. If you're a Slytherin they might as well just switch me rooms right now."

"Gryffindor, actually," Marlene said slowly. Emmeline's vivaciousness was slightly unappealing but she brought a new energy into the normally lifeless hospital room that was rather refreshing.

"Oh Gryffindor," Emmeline leaned back into her pillow and folded her hands behind her head, looking up towards the ceiling. "Yeah, alright, I think we can get along then."

"What happened with your old roommate?" Marlene asked despite the fact that she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Like I said, she was batty. Suffered from a poorly performed Imperius Curse and is not really in the right state of mind."

"What about you then?" Marlene asked. Emmeline seemed to be doing rather well and she couldn't guess what it was that was keeping her inside.

"I got hit with a few too many stun spells," she laughed. Marlene wasn't sure why it was so funny. "How about you?"

"Uh some unnamed curse that causes me to bleed to death."

"You don't say?" Emmeline's eyes had grown wide and she twisted her head to look at her. "You're that girl that all the Healer's have been talking about. Pretty famous in the hospital right now. Is it true they brought you in stitched up with fabric thread?"

"I don't know, I've been unconscious for weeks," she felt annoyed. Either it was her abrupt rudeness or the fact that she was interrupting Marlene's studying, there was just something about this girl that she didn't quite like.

"My old room was stationed right outside the Healer's desk. I heard a lot of things I probably shouldn't have. Your first week you were the only thing they talked about. Something about you being quite the magical mystery. It was actually quite the source of entertainment you know, not being able to have any visitors here and having to room with dear Jody, I'm almost sad to move away from it."

"That's … nice." Marlene really didn't know what else to say. This girl enjoyed relishing in all the horror stories from the patients around her? It really didn't seem like an appropriate thing to do, labeling it as entertainment and bashing the poor girl whose brains had been fried.

"You must think I'm pretty inconsiderate, huh?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm really not a horrible person," Emmeline smiled sadly. "I've been here a bit too long and I'm just itching to get back to work. My weak attempts at optimism come off a bit repellent to others at times but I promise I'm really not a sadistic person."

"I've already been here three weeks," Marlene could at least sympathize with that.

"I've been here about the same amount of time. I'm a Healer in training on the Dai Llewellyn ward you see, there was some kind of commotion when some lunatic kid tried breaking in here and I was walking the halls and thought we were under attack. There were a lot of scared people, I got hit in the crossfire of a few stun spells and it landed me up here for a few weeks."

Marlene wasn't sure if she should smile or feel mortified. She decided against mentioning that the lunatic kid was Sirius and that he had been trying to break in to see her. Either way, Emmeline didn't seem too upset about it.

"I'm supposed to be out of here soon though, thankfully, I'm not sure how much more I can take of these disgustingly plain white walls."

"Don't you look at them every day when you're training?" Marlene laughed a bit.

"Well yes," she offered a cheeky smile, "but there is a massive difference when you're lying in the stark white bed sheets staring around at four white walls and you don't have the ability to go outside or home for the evening."

"So you're really a Healer in training?" Marlene was suddenly interested in conversing with the girl.

"Yes, this will be my third and final year before I'm a fully fledged Healer."

"It's what I want to do when I finish my N.E.W.T.s," Marlene confessed.

"Yeah? It's a pretty good gig. I like working in the Dai Llewellyn ward, I was always a big fan of Potions when I was at Hogwarts so it just seemed like a natural fit for me. We get a lot of interesting creature bites in there too; I've even seen a couple of Werewolf bites since I started here."

Marlene tried to ignore the quickening of her heart beat at the words 'Werewolf bite.' All she could feel was sadness for their terrible fate and her thoughts drifted to Remus.

"What specialty are you interested in?"

"Specialty?" Marlene hadn't ever considered what type of Healer she had wanted to be before and Emmeline's question seemed like it should be obvious.

"Well you've got the Creature Induced Injuries and Dangerous Dai Llewellyn ward, they've got burns, bites, stings, and then there's the Bugs and Disease unit. I personally could never work on that floor, it is crawling with infections and since I've been here one Healer has already died. They make you take all these different potions all the time to prevent contact but I don't think I could possibly stomach some of the stuff they make you drink. The Artifact Accident ward is pretty interesting, you see all sorts of oddities there. After that there's Potion and Plant Poisoning, so if you're exceptionally good at Potions and Herbology you'll fit in really well there. And then there's the Spell Damage unit which is where we are at; misconstrued jinxes, curses, charms."

"Honestly I never considered it before," Marlene thought about the six separate options to see which one sounded the most appealing. Potions was one of her more difficult areas of study which meant that the Dai Llewellyn ward and the Potions and Poisoning unit were probably not her best options. The Bugs and Diseases unit didn't sound the most appealing from the way Emmeline described it but it was probably a pretty interesting place to work. Then there was the Artifact Accident and Spell Damage unit, the later of which she was currently a patient of, and she felt a growing interest to know more about them.

"The first year you get to experience all six units to get a feel for each one," she continued, "it's mandatory for you to work in each six at least once before you pick which area you want to specialize in. I used to think I wanted to work up here in the Spell Damage ward but there were just too many hard cases and I had a hard time coping when I'd finish my shifts."

"Hard cases? How so?" Marlene's curiosity was peaked.

"Well there are a lot of really damaged people that come into this wing, things you just never recover from. When I was a student here there was a patient that was brought in, he had been tortured to the point of sheer madness. He had been put under the imperius curse and forced to murder his entire family and disfigure himself, he was put under the cruciatus curse so many times that he was just looney by the time he was brought in. They named the Janus Thickey Ward after him; he was the first patient to ever really need such critical long term care. That poor man will spend his entire life here and he doesn't even know who he is."

"That's so sad," Marlene felt a tug on her heart. She couldn't imagine what it must be like to go through all of that. If she were a Healer here she would need to be subjected to it seeing cases like that every day and the realization of Emmeline's words made a lot more sense.

"Yeah it is sad," she replied but she had a hard look on her face, "that was the last day I worked on this floor. He tried strangling a few of the Healer's when he got here and I happened to be the closest one to him. I had a bruise around my neck for a week after that. No, I was most definitely not cut out for a job in this ward."

They were interrupted by a brief knock at the door before Patrick stepped into view.

"I see you finally have some company," he said brightly when he caught site of Emmeline. She seemed to sit up a little taller when Patrick passed by her bed and Marlene watched as her eyes followed him across the room.

"Yes this is Emmeline," Marlene gestured towards the girl beside her. "She likes to talk."

"Must be a nice change from the drab quietness you've been used to, huh?" Emmeline snickered and Marlene couldn't help but crack a smile.

"You work down on the first floor, don't you?" Patrick turned his head to look at her.

"Yes, I do." Emmeline's face broke out into a glorious smile when she realized he was talking to her. She moved her hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear and batted her eyelashes a few times. It was painfully obvious that she was interested in Patrick.

"Alright Marlene, let's observe the damage today, shall we?" He turned to look back at Marlene and smiled. His hands removed the bandages quickly to examine the amount of healing and he seemed dejected to note that there hadn't been much improvement. "Well it's only been a day. I suppose we just need to be a bit more patient."

"So that's what all the fuss was about," Emmeline had moved off the bed to get a better look. "Did you happen to use Essence of Dittany? Murtlap Essence? "

"Of course we tried those," Patrick rolled his eyes slightly, "neither of them have worked."

"Well of course they wouldn't work on a fresh wound like that, have you tried them recently now that you've had the skin tied together for so long?"

Patrick kept quiet. It seemed to Marlene that they probably hadn't tried using another potion and he was considering whether or not Emmeline's suggestions warranted investigation. Eventually he seemed to conclude she might be on to something. "I suppose it doesn't hurt to try it again. Maybe it'll at least kick start some more healing because at this rate you'll just have an open gash in your abdomen forever." He moved from the room quickly, promising to be back later once he had gotten some potions ready, and Emmeline immediately broke out into questions.

"Who was that?"

"Patrick."

"He's super cute. Do you know if he's single?"

"I wouldn't know. It's not like we frequently talk about our love lives with one another. Besides, I've only been awake for less than a day. And you work here. Shouldn't you know him better than me?"

"I work on an entirely separate floor," Emmeline threw herself back into her bed, "but I might need to find away to get hit with a few more stun spells to extend my stay. Hey, I never even got your name?"

"It's Marlene," she offered.

"Marlene, you don't happen to have your wand handy do you? You know how to perform a good jinx?"

Marlene looked at her skeptically but Emmeline burst out laughing.

"I'm kidding; seriously, you're going to think I'm mental soon."

"Only a little," Marlene laughed. Despite her odd tendencies, Emmeline was a rather refreshing addition to her stay at St. Mungos. She couldn't help but feel traces of hope that Emmeline's suggestions might be the answer that the Healer's were looking for to be able to fix her.

"Want to hear about the wizard I treated back in first year who had Vanishing Sickness? He thought it would be funny to sneak up behind people in the hallways and scare them senseless. The Healer's had to finally lock him in his room after he decided to pay a visit to the ladies lavatory."

Marlene listened intently; Emmeline wasn't so bad after all, a bit eccentric at times but definitely eager. Her stories were a great distraction from the rest of the painful thoughts swirling around in Marlene's mind; thoughts of her friends, of Sirius, of the future – whether it held a place for her here at St. Mungos.

The Herbology essay lay forgotten at the foot of her bed but Marlene didn't give it another thought. She had more exciting things to keep her occupied and, after having nearly died only a few short weeks ago, she needed a little bit of excitement even if it was from a crazy, eccentric girl she had just met. Despite her initial repulsion of Emmeline, Marlene could feel that it might be the beginning of a very unusual friendship.


	29. Part Two: Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine: The Draught of Dreamless Sleep**

"Hey Marly, catch."

Emmeline had walked into the hospital room and thrown a small object at Marlene. Marlene caught it clumsily and looked down in her hands to see a box of chocolate frogs.

"Oh yum," she said excitedly, "I haven't had sugar in forever."

Emmeline was wearing her Healer's uniform which was just simple and white much like the rest of the building. She had been discharged after a little more than a week of rooming with Marlene and it was her first shift back in training. She had promised to visit over the lunch break and true to her word she hadn't come empty handed.

"I know the food here is pretty drab," she smiled, "it's nothing compared to the feasts they spoil you with at Hogwarts."

"It's not too bad," Marlene lied. She wasted no time ripping open the box and devouring the chocolate.

"It looks like you could use a few of those," Emmeline was eyeing her wearily. This was nothing new to Marlene; she was fairly used to the comments about her petite frame.

"Yeah well, if you want to load me up on a stock of candy I won't complain."

"So have they given any good news since my departure yesterday?" Emmeline ignored the comment and looked hopeful. Marlene was sure that her new friend was eager for her healthy recovery, but she couldn't help but think that she was more excited to find out whether or not her suggested hybrid potion had worked or not.

"Not yet," Marlene said in between mouthfuls of her treat, "Patrick hasn't been in yet today to check."

After Patrick had tried another failed dose of Essence of Dittany and Murtlap Essence, which were potions meant to grow skin over abrasions and heal cuts and bruises, Emmeline had suggested a mixed version of the two along with some other herbal plants Marlene had never heard of. After she had been discharged the day prior she had disappeared with Patrick to help design the new potion. It appeared that Emmeline's best class had been Potions when she attended Hogwarts and knew a few tricks or two that could possibly put Lily or Snape to shame.

"Ah well I suppose I'm being ambitious anyways, it'll probably take more than a day to see any change."

"I don't know how much more of this I can take," Marlene mumbled bitterly. "I'm going to fail my N.E.W.T.s if I don't get back to class soon."

School wasn't quite the true reason for her misery though but she wasn't prepared to admit this to her new friend. Her first night alone after spending an entire week with Emmeline had been extremely lonely and she had had nobody to preoccupy her wandering mind from her thoughts of Sirius and of the many other feelings of sadness that came from isolation. After spending a month in the infirmary, unconscious or not, she was starting to really feel the toll of her separation from the outside world and unwelcome nightmares she hadn't experienced in awhile were beginning to make their return.

"Who is he?"Emmeline's eyes were glimmering with curiosity. Marlene had never mentioned Sirius during their time together so she was a bit taken aback by her question.

"What do you mean?" she asked, puzzled.

"Oh come on now," Emmeline rolled her eyes, "nobody is _that _devastated over missing school. Especially not when you have what appears to be half the Hogwarts library scattered all over the room. You've been much too sullen to be thinking about your studies so who's the guy your anxious to see?" Her hand gestured around the room where numerous textbooks lay stacked in piles on the side table and the empty bed that Emmeline had once occupied.

Marlene wanted to challenge her – Lily would probably fit into the category of 'devastated' if the roles were reversed, but Emmeline didn't know Lily and the case seemed unwinnable. "Just a guy from school."

"Obviously. What's his name?"

"Sirius."

"Sirius?" Emmeline seemed thoughtful as if she were trying to put a face to the name. "Black is it?"

Marlene nodded.

"I've heard the name. He's related to Bellatrix isn't he?"

"Who?" Marlene wasn't sure who that girl was since Sirius didn't speak about his family. The only name she recognized was that of his younger brother, Regulus.

"Real treat of a lady. I'm sure that there's a relation, all Black's are related somehow. She was a Slytherin in my year and rumor has it she's real deep with the Deatheaters these days. How'd you end up pining after a Black?"

"He's not like the rest of his family," Marlene could feel a rise of defensiveness. This is what Sirius must go through on a regular basis when people learn his name. She recalled the conversation they had had once about how the Potter's had been weary of him when James dragged him home for the holidays the first time. "He's in Gryffindor with me."

"What do your parents think about that?"

"They're dead," she said flatly, attempting to contain the whirlwind of new emotions inside of her from lashing out on her unsuspecting friend. Her question was innocent enough but the words stung Marlene like a fresh wound. Anyone that knew her knew better than to ask such a question. However, Emmeline didn't know that Marlene's parents had been murdered and she had never offered information on the subject.

Still though, an ache began throbbing in her chest at their mention and she shivered as she recalled the most recent nightmare she had experienced only the night prior. It was vaguely similar to the ones she had been experiencing after news of her parent's murder, but the location had changed to the scene in Hogsmeade and it was her mother laying lifeless amongst a pool of blood on the cobbled street.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know," a strange expression passed over her face before she offered a sympathetic smile. "I just assumed that was your father who's been visiting."

"He's my godfather." Marlene had to look away from Emmeline's prying eyes and instead focused on the Transfiguration textbook at the foot of her bed. "My parents were killed in an attack at the beginning of the year." Despite the fact that Uncle Tom was religious in visiting her every couple of days, she couldn't help but feel the bitterness that came over her as she realized he was not enough. Being separated against her wishes brought an influx of unhappy memories and bitterness that her parents weren't the ones visiting her instead. Emmeline had been a wonderful distraction from it all; at least until now.

They were interrupted by a swift knock on the door before the smiling face of Patrick came into view. It was hard not to notice the way that Emmeline perked up as she caught sight of him before tossing her hair over her shoulder and offering him a flirtatious grin. Patrick either didn't seem to notice or care because he didn't return the favor.

Marlene couldn't blame Emmeline for trying; Patrick was a decent looking fellow. Despite her failed efforts at catching his attention she didn't seem all that discouraged as he brushed by her without more than a polite greeting.

"Shall we see if there's any progress?" he asked Marlene eagerly to which she nodded in reply. She wasn't holding her breath as there hadn't been much improvement since her arrival at St. Mungo's but she was clinging on to the smallest traces of hope that meant she would soon be free from her confinement.

He unwrapped the dressing in the same similar fashion that he always did; slow and meticulously, but Marlene was impatient. "So is there any progress?" she asked when he failed to say anything. His hands were blocking her view from the wound and his face was knotted with concentration.

"A little," he didn't sound very excited though, "but it's so minimal that I'm not sure if it was from the potions or just your body healing on its own."

"It's most definitely the potion," Emmeline sounded annoyed. She had moved around to the opposite side of the bed and was hovering over Marlene's body, examining the wound.

"Either way," Patrick glanced up at her wearily, "it's only a minimal change. You still have quite a ways to go Marlene."

The news was better than Marlene had been hoping for and she couldn't help but smile.

"Shouldn't you be in training?" Patrick was looking questioningly at Emmeline. Her eyes glanced up at the clock on the wall and she let out a small squeal.

"Gotta run Marly," she grinned before rushing towards the door. "Don't eat all that chocolate before I visit you at lunch time." And then she was gone from the room.

"Marly?" Patrick was grinning at her.

"Yeah, I'm not really sure," Marlene rolled her eyes. Emmeline had taken to calling her that after their first day together and, despite Marlene's attempts to correct her, refused to call her anything but. She didn't mind all that much though, the nickname was just another friendly reminder of Emmeline's quirkiness that she had grown accustomed to.

"Forgive me if I don't adopt the name," he laughed as he grabbed a jar of the hybrid potion from the shelf by Marlene's bed. "I happen to think Marlene fits you much better. Besides, it's a lovely name, why would anyone want to shorten it?"

Marlene could feel her cheeks tingling and hoped that a blush wasn't noticeable on her face. She wasn't certain that Patrick was flirting with her but the compliment made her feel uncomfortable all the same. He didn't say anything further as he applied a thick layer of the potion on her abdomen and Marlene watched with interest as it bubbled slightly before absorbing into the wound.

"Does it burn?" he was watching her with creased brows and Marlene hadn't been aware that her face had been squished together.

"Only a little bit," she said quietly, "much less than before."

"Don't tell your friend," he couldn't suppress a slight scowl, "but her idea may have been brilliant."

"Would it kill you to tell her that?" Marlene couldn't help but laugh. She watched as Patrick rewrapped her bandages with a slight shrug. It seemed apparent that her previous observations had been accurate; he had less than favorable feelings towards Emmeline.

"I normally get along well with others," he glanced up at her and she noticed for the first time how blue they were. "She's a bit too assertive for my liking. I can't even imagine what a week in the same room with her must have been like. I bet you're happy to finally be back on your own."

"No actually, I rather enjoyed her company."

"Oh," he seemed surprised but had finished her dressing and moved away from the bed to put the potion away.

"It's sort of lonely here without her now," she continued on without waiting for him to prompt her for an answer, "and that means all I have to distract me are these lousy books."

"Well if you're that miserable in here why didn't you just say so?" he was grinning again. "I'll come visit you more, you know, help you keep yourself from going insane."

Marlene wasn't quite sure what to say; she hadn't been hinting that she needed more company from him but she couldn't help but feel like he had maybe read her wrong. She forced herself to smile and thank him anyways, in case she was imagining things. After all, he was a really nice guy and he wasn't opening hitting on her.

When he had left the room to tend to the rest of his rounds Marlene let out a large sigh before closing her eyes and relaxing back into the large squishy pillow behind her. She hadn't slept well the night before due to the unyielding nightmares and had given up all hope of sleep somewhere around four in the morning. She had considered asking for a dreamless sleep potion from Patrick before wondering what questions it would cost her, and she was most certainly not prepared to speak to anyone about the horrifying images visiting her at night.

As she settled deeper into the pillow, the bright lights above her faded into darkness as she slipped into an unconscious state – hoping that her stubbornness hadn't cost her another visit to that auspicious day in Hogsmeade.

* * *

><p>She woke up to a scream.<p>

Her eyes shot open in fear, forgetting where she was until three women in white uniforms came rushing into her room. The back of her neck was covered in sweat and she could feel her fingers curled around the bed sheets in a vice grip. She wasn't aware that she had been the one screaming until one of the healers asked her if everything was okay.

"I'm fine," she lied. She could taste salt on her lips and it was the first indication that she was still crying. Of course, much like everyone else that Marlene knew, they exchanged skeptical glances; disbelieving of her deceit.

Marlene's eyes wandered to the clock above the door as the healers, satisfied that she wasn't in any serious harm, exited the room in single file. It was nearing noon which meant she had accomplished at least a few good hours of sleep before she had been subjected to another nightmare.

She could hear the boisterous laugh of Emmeline even before the brunette's smiling face appeared in the doorway. She breathed a sigh of relief to see her friend, knowing that the distraction was a welcome one.

"Heard you've been screaming something fierce, Marly?" she grinned before plopping down on the edge of the bed.

"Where'd you hear that?"

"The healer's at the desk were talking about it when I passed through. It seems that you're still quite the talk of this place, you know."

"I love being the center of attention," Marlene said with obvious sarcasm and Emmeline's grin deepened.

"Don't let that bother you, they rarely get unsolvable medical cases these days and they're just curious. Heck, I admit that I was intrigued with your case just listening to them when you first arrived."

"Let's be honest Emmeline, you are still obsessed with it. I can see your eyes hovering over my wound right now, probably looking for a sign of blood to see whether my episode ripped open the wound again."

"Clever witch," she smiled. "Perhaps you do have what it takes to think like a healer."

"I just need the grades now," Marlene sighed, her eyes scanning the textbooks in the room once again. "And being here much longer is really going to hinder my chances of that."

"You're a smart girl, Marly, I don't have doubts you'll manage to catch up." Marlene knew that Emmeline was just trying to be nice but since she was usually blunt, her words indicated that there might be more truth there than Marlene gave her credit for. "So you're having nightmares then?"

"Yes," she said simply. She still did not feel like divulging any details.

"That's fairly common," she continued without any indication she was planning to pry further. "A lot of witches and wizards that come in here from an attack go through it. Did you ask for a sleeping draught yet?"

"No," she admitted. "I was going to ask you about that."

"Unfortunately I'm still in training so I have limited ability in that department. You're going to have to ask Patrick or one of the other healer's on the floor for that one." Marlene's eyes wandered unconsciously to the jar of potion sitting on the shelf beside her bed that Emmeline had helped create. Almost as if Emmeline knew what she was thinking she spoke. "The only reason that happened was because I was working with Patrick. I'd lose my job if I had gone ahead and created it on my own. Seriously though, just tell him you're having trouble sleeping. Like I said, it's totally normal and he probably will be expecting it."

Marlene nodded. Emmeline was probably right and even if Patrick did start to ask any questions she could easily just tell him that she wasn't in the mood to talk about it. It really didn't need to be that hard but the more time she spent under scrutiny and observation, the more she clung to any amount of privacy she could have. Talking about the horrific images of bloodshed and death was not something she was interested in sharing at the moment.

They spent the rest of Emmeline's lunch hour talking about her first day back. Marlene listened intently as she talked about the different cases that had come in during the morning while nibbling on some of the leftover chocolate. When she was meant to return to work, Emmeline seemed vaguely disappointed that Patrick had failed to show up during her visit. Marlene didn't miss her glances towards the doorway every so often.

"So has Patrick been in to see you?"

"Emmeline, he was just in here this morning when you were here," Marlene rolled her eyes. "He's not here every second of the day. He doesn't babysit me you know."

"I know that," she said haughtily. "I was just hoping to see him before I left. He's quite the eye candy and there are no decent looking blokes on my floor."

Luckily for Marlene, she didn't need to ask for a sleeping potion. Just as Emmeline was getting ready to leave one of the healers that had come rushing into her room earlier, identified by her name tag as Martha, entered into the room with a bubbling goblet.

"I figured that this might help you sleep a little better," she smiled before settling a large goblet on the night stand beside Marlene's bed. It was a thick purple, sweet smelling potion and Marlene stared at it hungrily; she knew that it would temporarily inhibit the emotional pain and she craved the release. "I heard you a couple of times through the night last night too so I made this one extra strong to get you a decent sleep. You won't be able to dream with this one."

"Perfect," Emmeline exclaimed, voicing the enthusiasm that Marlene was holding back. "Well enjoy Marly, I suppose I won't be back to visit you until tomorrow then since you'll probably be knocked out cold for the rest of the day."

"Thanks for the visit," Marlene smiled and waved as Emmeline moved through the door and out of sight.

Martha was still standing at the ledge of the bed, waiting for Marlene to grab hold of the goblet. Her eyes too were trained on Marlene's abdomen as if she were mentally undressing the wound in her mind; trying to figure it out.

"Am I really that interesting?" she asked, unable to hide the trace of irritation in her tone.

"Sorry," Martha blushed. "Whenever you're ready to take that potion it will put you into dreamless sleep almost immediately."

"Thanks," she said before Martha hurried from the room in either embarrassment or to see another patient; whichever it was, Marlene didn't care. Her hands reached over and grabbed the silver goblet and admired the purple liquid within.

She had been thinking an awful lot more about her parents these days and she felt guilty to wash away their memory with magic, even if it was momentarily. But the truth was that their memory was now tainted with death and devastation; gone were the memories of her parents smiling faces, Christmas dinners and tucking her into bed at night as a child after reading her favorite bedtime story. Replaced now with her own mental images of the gruesome bloodshed, horrifying screams and tripping over dead bodies scattered across the streets of Hogsmeade.

Thinking about her parents resurfaced the unresolved pain from their departure. She had never truly processed their death, never received closure for their horrific and unjustified murder and the gap within her heart seemed to grow larger with each passing minute.

Marlene could feel the tears falling down her face again but she didn't care because there was nobody there to see it. The ache for Sirius was even more prominent; he had been the one to help her through this the first time and she craved his closeness to provide her reassurance and comfort. Knowing that she was all alone made the situation even more unbearable to deal with and she felt hopeless that she would ever feel normal again.

She raised the goblet to her lips and allowed the sweet liquid to trickle into her mouth. At least this way she wouldn't have to remember the painful memories that plagued her. And without any memories to haunt her dreams, at least for the time being, she wouldn't have to feel anything at all.


	30. Part Two: Chapter Ten

**A/N:** **ForensicGeek2 **This story has been brewing in my head for years. As you can see I started it in 2011 so it's been a long time in the making. I can't exactly explain where it came from - but I can promise you that I have a very neat way of concluding it. As for how long it is...well I suppose that all depends on how long I can stretch it out for but I have always intended it as a three parter. I anticipate you'll be getting at least another 15-20 chapters for sure. I promise that I will finish it. As for other fanfics I do have one other but I wrote it when I was in high school and it's not very good (haha). It's uploaded on my page if you want to check it out. **donniedarko091 **Sirius will be back soon - I promise! **This. WOw, ObsessedwReading, Nonna Nitto, & Elis.n** **THANKYOU** for the wonderful reviews :)

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><p><strong>Chapter Ten: The Return to Hogwarts<strong>

It seemed like an eternity to receive the good news but when she did, Marlene could feel the heaviness that had been weighing her down lift almost immediately.

"Looks like you're pretty much all healed up," Patrick said enthusiastically one morning. He was examining her abdomen and Marlene chanced a peak to notice the long ugly pink scar where the bloody and distorted crevice had once occupied. It was still raw and mangled; she doubted that it would ever fully disappear, but the scar was a reminder that she was still alive and for that she was thankful.

She had lost count of how long she had been at 's now. Half a year, it felt like, but was probably more like two months. She survived solely off of her visits from Uncle Tom, which were increasingly less frequent than before, and the company of Patrick and Emmeline who took it upon themselves to attempt to distract her with meaningless conversation and homework help during their breaks.

Marlene had fallen into a depression during her time at the hospital and on numerous occasions had to rely on sleeping draughts to help her fight off the nightmares as well as cheering charms to get her through the day. But now Patrick's words gave her a new sense of hope and she didn't need a cheering charm to put the smile on her face as she processed his words.

"Does this mean I finally get to leave?" she asked eagerly.

"Was your visit that horrible?" he asked jokingly with a smile. "Yes, I think that you're healed well enough that we don't have to worry about a relapse. Of course I'll be recommending weekly checkups with Madam Pomfrey just to be on the safe side, at least until we know that it won't break open again. And you're also going to have to take it easy, no Quidditch or any strenuous lifting for awhile."

"Does it look like I play Quidditch?" Marlene laughed despite the fact that she would have jumped at an opportunity to be a part of the Gryffindor team had she possessed the talent.

"You're small," he shrugged, "I think that would give you an excellent advantage as a seeker."

Emmeline was less than enthralled about the news, however. "Who am I going to visit on my lunch breaks now?" she had asked with a slight whine when Marlene had shared the information about her discharge during the lunch hour.

"Oh please, Emmeline, you and I both know that you're just sad you no longer have a pliable excuse to sneak glances at an unsuspecting healer." Only part of that was true; Patrick was definitely not as 'unsuspecting' as Marlene might have originally thought. He took it upon himself to avoid her room at all costs when Emmeline was around, even if it meant foregoing his scheduled rounds.

"Guess I'll just have to get creative," she winked cheekily. "Seriously though, it won't be the same without you around."

Marlene wasn't ashamed to admit that she was going to miss Emmeline's company. She had grown awfully fond of the girl, beginning to think of her like an extended sister that she had never had. But thinking about sisters only reminded her of Lily and knowing that she would finally be reunited with the ones she cared most about was strong enough to wash away the guilt she felt about leaving Emmeline behind.

"Well provided that I don't fall short on my N.E.W.T.s I suspect you will see me again real soon," Marlene offered hopefully. "And of course I'll write."

"You'd better," she said haughtily before punching her arm lightly with affection. "So when do you get to leave?"

"Patrick figured close to supper time. He said that they needed to inform the school of my arrival and get the necessary floo channels set up to take me back to Hogwarts."

"You must be excited," Emmeline smiled. "I imagine this has been a long stout of isolation for you. Ready to finally see that boy of yours?"

"What boy?" Patrick had entered the room behind Emmeline and was looking up from a chart. Either he must not have noticed Emmeline's presence in the room at first or he didn't care as this would be the last day of any perpetual encounters.

"Marlene's boyfriend," Emmeline said as though it was the most obvious thing. Patrick merely raised his eyebrows in surprise, appearing as though this was news to him. Marlene knew she shouldn't feel guilty about it; it was her private life after all, but there was something to his reaction that left her wondering whether or not withholding that information had been a mistake.

"Was that the bloke that caused the big riot to get in to see you?" he looked thoughtful, as though finally piecing together the last remnants of an unsolved puzzle.

"That kid that put me in here for four weeks?" Emmeline's eyes widened as she looked between Patrick and Marlene.

"Er – " Marlene wasn't quite sure what to say. She wasn't sure by tone whether either party was mad. Fortunately, Emmeline's face broke out into a large grin and she started laughing.

"You sure know how to pick them," she finally managed to say with a slight shake of her head and Marlene felt her body relax slightly. Patrick was staring down at his chart in silence but finally glanced back up again when Emmeline's laughter had ceased.

"We've scheduled your discharge for four thirty this afternoon," he said briskly; much more formal than the tone that Marlene was used to him speaking. "Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey will be expecting you to arrive in the Hospital wing at that time and will provide further instructions for your continued care plan. Make sure you have all of your things ready to go when Martha comes to get you shortly after four."

"You won't be here when I leave?" Marlene couldn't contain the surprise in her voice. She had spent an awful lot of time with Patrick as he was her main healer and she was vaguely disappointed that he wouldn't be there to see her off.

"No, I'm off work at three today."

"Oh," Marlene watched as he forced a quick smile before scribbling something down on his chart.

"I'll come back up to say goodbye before you leave," Emmeline smiled, breaking the awkward tension that clung to the air. Marlene returned the gesture but her focus was still on Patrick. It was pretty evident that he was irritated and Marlene was dimly aware that it might be partially her fault. She had wondered whether or not he had started to develop feelings for her and it seemed obvious now that her assessment might have been correct.

"Make sure to see Madam Pomfrey if you notice any prolonged periods of pain," he looked up from the chart again to look Marlene in the eyes, "and remember what I said about strenuous activity."

"Ooh, no heavy snogging session tonight Marly," Emmeline's eyes were glittering with mischief. The look might have been marauder worthy if Marlene wasn't so wrapped up in the mortifying words that had accompanied it.

"Emmeline!" she couldn't contain her horror. Patrick's face had turned red and he nearly dropped his clipboard, managing to save it from hitting the floor before turning towards the exit.

"Take care Marlene," and then he was gone.

"He is incredibly awkward," Emmeline stared after him in disbelief. It was clear she was oblivious to the noticeable reason why Patrick had been acting so strange. "Good looking, but awkward."

Marlene bit her lip and did not say more. She knew that Emmeline had feelings for him and thought it might be out of place to tell her what her suspicions of his strange behavior were. After that, the two girls spent the remainder of Emmeline's lunch hour packing up Marlene's school texts and assignments with minimal conversation. When Emmeline had returned to work, Marlene allowed herself to take a long and relaxing shower before getting dressed in some clothes that Uncle Tom had delivered to her a few weeks prior.

After having spent so long confined in isolation, wishing to return to her friends and Sirius, she could feel her growing nerves at the thought of having to finally face them again. She didn't want to admit it to herself but she was afraid of the way they probably perceived her now; helpless and weak. She was embarrassed at how uncollected she had been during the attack and had relied on Sirius to protect her as they attempted to make their escape. But after being separated for so long she could finally recognize that she needed to be self-sufficient if she was going to make it in this world and she cringed at the thought of how she might be treated upon her return.

Before she knew it though, the clock on the wall read a quarter past four and a sharp rap on the door indicated that Martha was ready to take her back to Hogwarts. Marlene was surprised when Patrick walked through the door though, as she hadn't been expecting to see him again.

"I thought you were off at three?" she inquired curiously.

"Got caught up with a few things," he shrugged but Marlene couldn't quite tell if he was being truthful or not. "I also wanted to apologize for being brisk with you earlier. Today has been a fairly hectic day."

"It's no problem," she smiled. Perhaps she had imagined things after all. It wouldn't be the first time that she had concocted some frivolous notion in her head of unwarranted insecurities. "I'm glad I get to say goodbye."

"Do you have all of your things?"

"Yes, I think so."

"Alright then, follow me. We're going to head to the reception area now to use the emergency floo connection. I toyed with what the safest way to get you back to Hogwarts was without causing any implications to your wound and, apart from the train, floo seemed like the next best option."

"Why not the train?" Marlene couldn't help but wonder why they were going with his second best option.

"I don't imagine you want to spend an entire day travelling by locomotive, do you?" he grinned sheepishly. "I know how badly you've been waiting to get back to school. And now I know why."

"There's many reasons I want to get back to school," Marlene felt the guilt washing over her again though Patrick, in contrast, seemed much more amused than their previous encounter.

They continued the walk in comfortable silence and Marlene took the opportunity to admire the rest of the hospital that she hadn't been able to see before. Apart from wandering up and down the corridor of her unit, she had been unable to see the rest of it due to the strict security measures. Her favorite thing was the large twisting marble staircase that separated the different floors. It was vast, overlooking the atrium below, and absolutely beautiful in its grandeur.

Emmeline was leaning against the banister at the bottom of the stairs still wearing her uniform and she casually flipped her hair over her shoulder when she caught sight of them approaching. "It's about time you showed up. I almost thought you had left without saying goodbye."

The reception area was located to the left of the atrium and was less enticing than the rest of the building. There were numerous rickety wooden chairs that were occupied with witches and wizards waiting to get treatment and a grumpy blonde sitting at the reception desk that read 'Welcome Witch.' When they approached the desk Marlene half expected the girl to scowl but she was surprised when the witch glanced up from her magazine and offered Patrick a dazzling smile.

"Patrick! It's been a long time since you've been to visit."

"Yes well, you know how busy it's been lately Hannah. I'm working off shift as we speak."

"You poor thing," she clucked her tongue in disapproval. "Are you here to collect a patient then?"

"No," he shook his head, "Martha should have coordinated with you about the floo network. I need to get a student back to Hogwarts."

For the first time since the encounter the blonde witch glanced over towards Marlene and Emmeline. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly before her lips twitched upwards again in a smirk. "Yes of course." She pulled out a velvet bag and pushed it across the counter towards Patrick. "Do visit me again soon, it get's awfully lonely down here."

"I'll try my best," he smiled and grabbed the bag. He motioned for the girls to follow him towards the massive stone fireplace in the corner of the room. It was stationed by two Aurors who moved aside to let them pass.

"What's with the Aurors?" Marlene eyes them wearily.

"Security measures, remember?" Emmeline sighed heavily. "Travelling here by floo is for emergencies only. Especially after recent incidents there have been more protocols put in place to ensure people don't flood the hospital that don't require assistance."

Marlene nodded her head in understanding; she knew that she must be referencing Sirius's feeble break-in attempt.

"Well this is goodbye Marly, my dear," Emmeline's smile faltered slightly. "You'd better keep to your word and write me. I hope to see you in next year's Healer cohort, so make sure to ace those N.E.W.T.s." She moved forward and gave Marlene a comforting hug before pulling back and wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Oh these allergies, always surfacing when it's most inconvenient."

"You're planning to become a Healer?" Patrick looked at her with astonishment. "You're full of surprises today aren't you?"

"I guess so," Marlene laughed. "Thanks for all your help."

It was another brief awkward moment before Patrick pulled her into a half hug and wished her goodbye. "Don't be a stranger," he added with a whisper into her ear after a moment's hesitation and then quickly pulled away.

"Thanks," she offered him a smile. He reached out the velvet pouch towards her and Marlene dipped her hand into the bag, scooping up a large handful of the glittery, silver powder. She thrust the powder into the fire and watched with admiration as the flames shot up in a magnificent emerald haze before stepping into the large stone fireplace. She admired her surroundings one more time; eyes passing over the grumpy welcome witch who was once again absorbed in her magazine, the two stone faced Aurors guarding the fireplace and settling on the two smiling faces of Patrick and Emmeline. She knew that she would see them both again one day soon but she couldn't help but feel sadness to be leaving them behind.

"The Infirmary," she said clearly, and their faces became a blur as the magical effects of floo transportation took their effect. As she was spinning further from the hospital, and closer towards the moment she had been anticipating for weeks, only one thing stood out in her mind. It was as if the spinning had erased all of the thoughts previously troubling her and all that remained was him.

_Sirius._

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><p>The first thing she saw when the walls had stopped moving was a rush of red before the tight embrace of Lily's arms around her torso clued her into the fact that it had been her long, sweeping hair.<p>

"Ouch," Marlene flinched slightly as Lily's grasp around her caused slight discomfort to her abdomen.

"I'm sorry," she breathed while pulling away, "did I hurt you?"

"No, I'm fine," Marlene grinned at her, "but do you think I could move out of the fireplace before we continue this conversation? We're getting covered in soot."

"Of course," Lily laughed nervously and moved backwards so that Marlene could step out of the hearth and into the familiar room of the Hogwarts infirmary. Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall were standing off to her right side and they were watching Marlene with interest. As soon as her eyes passed over the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey bustled forwards to usher Marlene to one of the white cots on the opposite side of the room.

"Come and sit so I can get a better look," she said sternly. "I want to make sure that you didn't get injured on your way over here." It was pretty apparent by her tone that she disagreed with Patrick's choice of transportation. Marlene imagined that if it had been her to discharge her from St. Mungos, she'd probably still be curled up in a compartment on the Hogwarts train.

Despite the fact that Marlene wanted to protest, she complied obediently and moved across the room to lay her book bag on the counter beside the bed before lying down. Instinctively she pulled the hem of her sweater up to reveal her bare stomach so that Madam Pomfrey could examine her. Lily's face twisted into a grimace as she caught sight of the scar and Marlene tried to ignore the painful look that crossed over Lily's face as their eyes made contact.

"It's not as bad as it looks," Marlene tried to ease her friend's worries. She wasn't being truthful though, and the dubious look that Lily offered her told Marlene that she knew better. She quickly clarified, "I mean, since it's healed. It's not nearly as bad anymore."

"That's quite the wound," Madam Pomfrey's eyes were wide and her finger traced over the lines in the air above Marlene's skin. Despite the fact that her finger never touched Marlene, she could still feel the shiver of the light graze of her movement.

"I'm supposed to come back every week," Marlene said dully and Madam Pomfrey nodded her head.

"I want to see you back here on Monday," her eyes focused on Marlene's, her brows raised slightly.

"I don't even know what day it is," Marlene admitted truthfully. She had lost track of the time since her stay at the hospital.

"It's Friday, Miss McKinnon," Professor McGonagall finally offered her first words from her place across the room. Unlike Lily and Madam Pomfrey, she hadn't felt the need to look at the wound and this was oddly comforting to Marlene. There was something about the look on Lily's face that confirmed Marlene's fears that she would be treated differently from now on.

"Miss Evans is here to make sure that you get settled properly. Students will be heading down for dinner soon and I wasn't entirely sure that you would feel comfortable making your first appearance in the confinements of the Great Hall."

"Not really, no," she sighed. She didn't even want to think about how awkward it would be to stroll into the hall full of hundreds of students that had no idea she had returned. She didn't imagine her reunion with those she was closest with would be something she was willing to share with prying eyes.

"How are you feeling Miss McKinnon?" Professor McGonagall was peering at her from over her spectacles. Despite her usually stern demeanor, she looked concerned and the tone of her voice indicated that she was.

"I'm –" Marlene hesitated. Truthfully, she didn't really know. "Figuring it out."

"Of course," her Professor nodded her head sadly. "Should you and Miss Evans wish to stay here a little longer you may take all the time you need. I'd like to see you after class on Monday though to discuss how we will proceed with integrating you back into your studies. Do you have any questions or concerns for me, Miss McKinnon?"

"No."

"Very well," she nodded her head once before turning her attention to Madam Pomfrey. "Poppy, do you require Miss McKinnon for anything else?"

"I think we'll be okay until Monday," she smiled half-heartedly.

"Very well then," Professor McGonagall began to move towards the doors. "Miss McKinnon, please be sure to take it easy. Miss Evans, please make sure to ensure that she does. I will see you both Monday morning."

Lily's tear strained face was all that Marlene could concentrate on after the two women had moved out of the room and left them alone. Lily was looking at her funny; it was a guilty, pain stricken with fear sort of look that made Marlene's stomach twist with concern.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" her voice wavered despite her best attempt to maintain composure.

"This is all my fault," Lily's voice broke and a new wave of tears poured from the corners of her eyes. "You nearly died and I'll never forgive myself."

"What are you talking about?" Marlene said with exasperation. From what she had gathered at St. Mungo's, Lily had been the one to save her.

Lily merely closed her eyes and shook her head. Whatever was on her mind it was evident that she wasn't prepared to share. "We should get back to the common room," she said quietly instead. "That is unless you really want to stay here a bit longer? When Professor McGonagall pulled me from Ancient Runes early and told me that you had been discharged and were on your way back to the school I didn't have the opportunity to tell anyone. James will likely be suspicious when I don't show up at the Great Hall though."

"I'd rather go to the common room." Marlene pulled herself off of the hospital cot and snatched her book bag from the table. "You can fill me in on everything I've missed."

The two girls walked quickly through the corridors, taking careful consideration to avoid getting too close to the Great Hall. Marlene knew that she would need to face everyone sooner or later but she was much too exhausted to put herself through the trauma of that sort of reunion. Lily seemed to agree and steered her down an empty corridor in an attempt to avoid any unwanted encounters.

Lily was unusually quiet and normally this would have bothered Marlene. She knew that her friend was keeping something back but Marlene was content to wait until she was ready to share. But something else that Lily had said was stirring around in Marlene's head; she didn't want to openly ask why James would be expecting Lily but it sounded like they had plans to meet up at some point. Despite the fact that Marlene had been anxious to return, asking questions seemed like it might take much more effort than she was willing to exert. Curiosity finally managed to win out and Marlene broke the silence as they were nearing the seventh floor entrance to Gryffindor tower.

"Why would James be suspicious when you don't show up for dinner?"

Lily looked a bit surprised at the question but her face relaxed almost immediately and she answered, "Professor McGonagall has been giving us weekly updates anytime St. Mungos had something new to offer. I knew that you'd be getting discharged soon based on the last report we got. James knows that I was intending to head to the library after class today but I told him that I'd meet him for dinner. I imagine that when I fail to show up it will only be a matter of time before they put the pieces together."

"When you say 'they'?" Marlene couldn't help herself. Lily was being vague and Marlene just wanted affirmation that Sirius was anticipating her arrival.

"Sirius of course," Lily's eyes widened and she looked dolefully at Marlene. "He has been unbearable lately, he nearly got himself suspended when he snuck out of Hogwarts and attempted to break into St. Mungo's to see you. Hornbeam."

They had arrived at the portrait of the fat lady and it swung open as Lily uttered the password. The common room was predictably deserted which confirmed that everyone had already made their way down to the Great Hall for dinner. The fire was still roaring and Lily guided her over to sit in their usual seats surrounding it. Marlene settled into the couch while Lily sat down in the chair beside her; still looking at her with the same look of concern she had worn since her arrival.

"You really need to stop looking at me like that," Marlene said with a trace of irritation. Lily looked away quickly.

"I'm sorry," she said apologetically. "I've been trying to figure out what I'd say to you when I saw you again."

"Are you going to explain why you think that this is your fault?" Marlene recalled Lily's omission earlier and her curiosity peaked again.

"Not just yet. I should wait until James arrives to tell you."

"What does James have to do with this?" Marlene could feel her irritation building. Lily was being exceptionally vague and not offering up much information. "You keep talking about him as if he's central to all of this and I'm not following."

"Well," Lily's face was turning red from obvious discomfort or embarrassment, Marlene couldn't be sure. "He is my boyfriend."

Marlene had heard the words but something about them didn't seem to register right away. Lily was looking sheepishly at the floor, avoiding eye contact with Marlene, and she refused to say anything further. Finally, Marlene was able to comprehend that the words had in fact been uttered from Lily's mouth and she reacted the only way she knew how.

"What?" she asked with confusion. "Boyfriend?"

"Yes." Lily mumbled quietly.

"Is that why you'd been spending so much time with him? You two were secretly dating and sneaking off to see each other?" Suddenly she could understand why Lily might feel responsible for Marlene's condition; she had planned on sneaking off with James that day in Hogsmeade and had asked Marlene to join them after. Undoubtedly, it was probably so they could finally come clean. "If you think that that is enough reason to blame yourself for –"

"That's not it," Lily's eyes shot up quickly. "We only just started dating about a month ago."

"Then why on earth do you think that any of this," she gestured to herself, "is your fault?"

"I told you," Lily repeated firmly, "I'd rather wait for James to explain it. But I want to tell you everything else. I just figured you should know about James and I. Obviously you'd find out sooner or later and I wanted to be the one to share the news."

"How did that even happen?" Marlene was astonished. She knew that Lily had been warming up to him but she had never in a million years believed that they would actually end up together. Lily was smiling though; a clear indicator that she was happy, even if the tear stained face from earlier made it appear that she was not.

"You," she said plainly. "I've been a wreck since Hogsmeade and James has been helping me through it. I don't know how it happened, it just – " she hesitated, looking off into the distance as though trying to think of something, "happened."

"After you got hit with that curse we tried everything we could think of but the bleeding just wouldn't stop. We could hear the teachers arriving but we needed to get out of the open so we took cover in the nearest shop which happened to be Gladrags Wizardswear. I'm not really sure how I thought of it but I caught site of the fabric thread and thought of the idea to charm it to be unbreakable so we could stitch you up and temporarily stop the bleeding. James was the only one calm enough to do it; really, it was him that saved you."

"You all did," Marlene smiled to calm Lily's nerves; she had started crying again.

"You were in such rough shape that Professor McGonagall sent you to St. Mungo's without even taking you back to the school. We tried to go with you but she told us that the hospital is strict on visitors right now. Of course, Sirius and I didn't care and we tried to go anyways. After they turned him away twice he thought it would be a good idea to force his way in. James and I would have tried to stop him but he didn't even tell us he was planning to do it. Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall went easy on him though; only had a month's detention instead of suspension."

"After that Professor McGonagall has been getting updates for us. We knew that your wound had finally healed up about a week or so ago and I was certain that you'd be allowed to come back to school soon. We've been waiting anxiously for the news. So you see, when I don't show up tonight at dinner I imagine that the boys will suspect something is up and come looking. In fact, there's probably a good probability that they're on their way now."

"How bad was the attack? What about Mary?" Marlene wanted to know more. Lily's face fell and Marlene could feel her stomach drop and the tears welling at the corners of her eyes. "No –"

"She's not dead," Lily cut her off hurriedly as if she realized Marlene's conclusion. "Her parents were already hesitant about her coming to Hogwarts before this happened and afterwards they pulled her out. A few students ended up leaving after it and only a handful of kids died."

Marlene still felt sick. Knowing that innocent children had died that day was enough to make her feel faint and she curled up into a ball on the couch, laying her head on the arm rest. As she closed her eyes she could feel a few tears escape and trickle down to meet her lips where their saltiness lingered.

"She left you a note," Lily said after a moment of silence. "She was devastated she couldn't see you but she didn't want to leave without some sort of goodbye. I left it on your bed for you, whenever you're ready to read it."

"Thanks," Marlene said simply.

"I'm really glad that you're okay Marlene," Lily's voice finally cracked and Marlene opened her eyes to see Lily watching her carefully. "I don't know what – I just couldn't –"

She didn't have a chance to finish her sentence though. The hurried footsteps outside of the common room could be heard racing towards the entrance and a male voice shouting out the password. Lily's eyes glanced up towards the entrance as it opened and she smiled, hurriedly wiping at the remaining tears on her face. Marlene couldn't see what it was that she was looking at as she was facing away from the entrance but didn't need to see to know the answer. Her suspicions were confirmed when the owner of the footsteps spoke.

"I saw it on the map," James sounded out of breath. "When you didn't show, I checked the map and I saw it."

"Where is she Lily?" Sirius's voice joined in, anxious, and Marlene could feel her heart skip a beat. Slowly she pulled herself to a sitting position and she turned her head to peak around the top of the couch. James and Sirius were standing there; their chests heaving, trying to catch their breaths, hair tousled and faces flushed as if they had been running.

Marlene's eyes could only focus on Sirius though; he was carelessly elegant, as always, and his piercing grey eyes became immediately locked on hers. She could feel the familiar flutter in her stomach as the intensity of his gaze bore into her very soul. She couldn't have imagined it possible, but in that moment she fell in love with him all over again.

Before she could even properly move from her position on the couch he had raced over and pulled her into an amorous embrace; his arms wrapped around her body protectively and pulled her into the familiar comforting scent that belonged only to him. She nuzzled her face into his chest, clenching the fabric of his sweater between her fingers, and sighed with relief. He instinctively squeezed her tighter and rested his head on top of hers.

"I can't believe you're finally here," he whispered into her hair.

"Sirius, you're squeezing a little too tight," she finally had to acknowledge that his hug was causing the pain in her side to throb. He relaxed slightly but didn't pull entirely away like Lily had and after a moment he pulled away just enough to be able to tilt her chin up with his hand to look into her eyes.

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do this," he said quietly, moving to rest his forehead against hers.

"I have an idea," she replied truthfully. It was as if the entire world had absorbed away the moment he had reached her and Marlene was content to be oblivious to anything else. Unfortunately, James didn't seem willing to allow them to enjoy their moment and Marlene was brought back to reality when she heard him snickering somewhere beside her.

"Get a room you two," she could hear the smugness in his voice and she flicked her eyes over to him.

"Shove it Potter," she smirked before bringing her focus back to meet Sirius's gaze. His eyes were lit up with amusement and his face was grinning at her candor. It was enough to make her forget about James entirely; James and Lily could wait. And then she pulled his face to meet hers and everything disappeared again.


	31. Part Two: Chapter Eleven

**A/N: kysila** - Yes, I too was tired of that cliche. I never saw him that way so I decided that I wanted to write him the way I always envisioned him to be. Thank you very much, I'm glad that you can feel the emotion and I hope that I don't disappoint with this chapter! **MSNGR** - I really appreciate all the feedback. My hope was to create an OC (Canon) character that fit in with the original story in a way. You'll see where that plays in a bit more as the story closes but it was always important to me to try to stick to canon as much as possible so that the story seemed natural and not just a fanfiction, if that makes sense? **ObsessedwReading, Elis.n, Lady Syndra, Jadedlights07**, and my **guest reviewers** - Thank you! Your feedback means a lot to me. The more reviews I get the faster I like to post chapters [it gets me more motivated to write ;)]

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><p><strong>Chapter Eleven: The Order of the Pheonix<strong>

"There's still a lot to talk about," Lily had been respectful enough to wait until Marlene and Sirius had pulled apart before speaking. When they had, Marlene observed James and Lily with amusement; they were both cuddled into the chair that Lily had been occupying, Lily was half sitting on his lap with her head resting against his shoulder and his arm slung around her.

"I don't know if I can believe what I'm seeing," she said with enjoyment. Despite the pink shade of Lily's cheeks James merely shrugged; it was almost as if he had heard this one too many times.

"They're pretty disgusting to watch," Sirius chuckled from beside her. They settled back into the couch and even though they weren't sitting atop one another like James and Lily, Sirius had grabbed her hand to keep their bodies connected.

"Says the two who just had their tongues jammed down each other's throats," James wiggled his eyebrows suggestively but was rewarded with a light punch in the arm from Lily. "Ouch, Evans, what was that for? You know I'm right."

"Doesn't mean I go around bugging people about it," she replied, "plus you and I both know that they've been waiting awhile to do – er – that." She seemed uncomfortable with the last part of her sentence and her face flushed red again. "Anyways, that's not important right now. I told Marlene that I'd fill her in on everything and students are going to be arriving back from supper soon."

"You didn't tell her anything yet?" James sounded astounded. "Don't you two tell each other everything?"

"Apparently not," Marlene said skeptically and Sirius squeezed her hand.

"Well she knows about what happened after she passed out in Hogsmeade and about Sirius's unprecedented adventures –"

"If I recall correctly, Evans, you accompanied me on the first adventure to St. Mungos," Sirius interjected. His eyebrows were raised but he looked amused.

"Yes well," Lily flashed him a look, "I'm referring to the _other _times."

"Wanted to see me that badly, did you?" Marlene looked at him from the corner of her eyes and smiled cheekily at him. Despite her obvious attempt at making light of the situation Sirius did not smile back.

"Yes," he said simply. Marlene could have got caught in the intensity of his gaze but she pulled her eyes away from him for fear that she might throw herself at him again; another public display of affection was probably not her best option at the moment, especially with James and Lily watching them so carefully.

"How much privacy do we have?" Lily turned to James and was speaking in a hushed tone.

"Marlene already knows about the map," Sirius chimed in quickly.

"The only two dots displaying were the two of you," James nodded his head at Sirius to agree with his addition. "And Marlene has known about it for awhile so don't worry about spilling that secret."

"Of course you knew," Lily laughed. "I shouldn't have assumed otherwise." She offered a small smile at Marlene before turning her attention back to James "I didn't want to tell her about – you know? At least until you could be here to share it with me and ensure that we have complete privacy. After all, that's the way we intended for it to happen in Hogsmeade, despite the fact that you felt otherwise."

Marlene did not miss the hard look that she gave James but instead of understanding what she meant by it she was left with even more questions. It appeared that Lily was annoyed with him over something and the guilty expression on his face indicated that this was true.

"This is far too vague for me," Marlene finally huffed. She recalled the odd interaction of when Lily had pulled her into the alleyway to cryptically ask her to meet her and James at the Hogs head. She'd be lying to herself if she didn't admit that she wasn't growing more impatient to know why. "Lily, you mentioned that this was all your fault. Let's start there?"

"What?" James's expression turned quickly to astonishment. "Why on earth would you tell Marlene that this was your fault?"

"Because it is," Lily shrugged, eyes trained on the floor again.

"How many times do I need to tell you to stop beating yourself up over this Lily," his tone was pained and Marlene gathered that they might have had this conversation before.

"Once again," Marlene interrupted them and both parties focused their gaze on her, "I still don't know what you're talking about but I would appreciate it if you'd just tell me."

"Lily and I have been working with Professor Dumbledore all semester long," James said quickly. "We were planning on meeting with a few people secretly in Hogsmeade that day but then the attack happened. We think it was a leak of information that led the Death Eaters to our meeting and that they were trying to shake us up. It makes the most sense."

"Shake what up? Who were you secretly meeting?" Marlene's head hurt. Instead of giving solid answers, James just seemed to be as vague as Lily had been.

"The Order of the Pheonix," Sirius said from beside her. Lily and James nodded their heads in silent agreement. "It's a group of witches and wizards that have the common goal to take down Voldemort and his followers."

"Professor Dumbledore recruited us at the beginning of the year. I wanted to tell you but he swore us to secrecy until we were ready to move forward with the recruitment process. Obviously if I had known that James was going to go around telling everyone – " Lily started.

"By everyone she really means Sirius, Remus and Peter," James rolled his eyes. "And I tell them everything. I trust them completely."

"Anyways, I would have told you if I had known he was going to do that. Dumbledore made us swear not to say anything; recruiting students doesn't look good for him but since we are of age and nearly done school, he wanted to get a good head start. He's has been trying to get enough support to move forward with recruiting the Ministry of Magic to back us too. He's been working on this for awhile and is now ready to get it off the ground. We were supposed to meet with a few other non-student members that day, sort of a first real meeting to figure out our next steps. I was intending for you to hear all about it that day, figure out if you wanted to join or not but obviously word got out somehow and Voldemort wanted to squander us before we even got a chance to take off."

"We've been lying low for awhile," James added, "we want him to think he succeeded so that he doesn't see us coming."

Marlene didn't really know what to think of all the information she was receiving. In all of her time wondering what Lily had been up to, she genuinely believed that it was head duty related; Lily had never given her a reason to think otherwise.

"Say something Marlene," Lily was looking at her anxiously.

"So you think that because you didn't tell me about this before that my injury is inadvertently your fault?" she questioned.

"Yes," Lily's lip twitched and James' arm around her seemed to tighten.

"You're absolutely mental Lily," Marlene let out a laugh and all parties turned to look at her. "I mean, seriously? Even if I had known I would have still been in Hogsmeade that day."

"Yes but maybe we would have been more discreet about the meeting – "

"You can't control that," Marlene shook her head, "who knows who let that information slide. We are living in a world where trust is very difficult to come by so you can't beat yourself up over something you can't change. I'm alive today because I have wonderful and intelligent friends; that's all that should matter on the subject."

"I told you she'd understand," James mumbled under his breath. Marlene was sure that it was meant for only Lily's ears so she didn't acknowledge it.

"So this Order of the –" Marlene paused, trying to comb her memory of the name they had called it.

"Pheonix," Sirius reiterated.

"Order of the Pheonix," she repeated. "What exactly is it then and what happens if I join?"

"Basically it's a movement against Voldemort. An attempt to gain enough support and momentum to fight back. Dumbledore said that we'd be waging war so it obviously isn't a decision to make lightly."

"You're planning on going to war?" Marlene felt her stomach drop but really what other answer could there be? The somber looks that her friends adorned were enough to make her feel queasy.

"Yes," Lily replied. "Will you join us?"

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><p>The evening passed by quickly which normally would have been a disappointment for Marlene but she was feeling the exhaustion of a long day taking over her body and she was looking forward to sleep.<p>

It was a lot of information to process; James, Lily and Sirius had had much more time and information to consider what they would be giving up to wage war against the Dark Lord. Marlene wasn't prepared to make a split section decision in her current state so she hadn't been able to give them an answer. Truthfully, she needed more time and more information to be able to make any sort of educated decision.

When Lily and James weren't performing their head duties they were corresponding with various witches and wizards on Dumbledore's behalf; testing the waters of loyalty and reeling in unpaid favors. This wasn't the first effort to be established since Voldemort's rise to power but James seemed to think that since Dumbledore was organizing it, it might stand a chance at getting off the ground.

Of course Sirius was in. He had already told Marlene that his plans after Hogwarts were joining the battle to thwart Voldemort and his death eaters and she knew that he must have jumped at the opportunity when James had presented it to him. Lily was a bit more of a surprise to her though and Marlene wasn't sure what prompted her to agree to such a risky occupation.

The plan seemed simple enough though; James and Lily didn't have a lot of time to explain in great detail due to time constraints, but Lily promised that she would answer any questions that Marlene might have. They would continue to seek support by trying to gain Ministry influence. It seemed that they all believed that with Dumbledore and the Ministry's mark on the Order, more people would be open to joining. After that they were still working out the logistics of their game plan but they also admitted that it was entirely possible Dumbledore had other things up his sleeve that he hadn't shared yet.

Remus and Peter were the first students to come back from supper. Remus had offered her a generous hug but Peter seemed more timid than Marlene remembered and he kept quiet for most of the evening. Their conversation had to cease after that as the common room started filling up and they were sparse on privacy.

"Promise me to think about it," Lily asked her one more time. Marlene nodded with a small smile.

"I will," she said. "My head hurts too much to think about much right now though."

"Of course," she nodded her head in understanding. "As much as I want to stay here all evening with you, James and I have head duties that we need to do that just can't wait."

"Sure," Marlene grinned mischievously and Lily turned pink again.

"Honestly Marlene," she said with irritation, "you're just as bad as them," she indicated towards the boys who were trying not to laugh. "And if I'm not wrong, I'm pretty sure that Sirius won't complain if we leave you two alone for the rest of the evening."

"Are you ever wrong, Evans?" Sirius smirked but Lily only rolled her eyes.

"Try not to stay up too late," she gave Marlene a hard look. "I told McGonagall and Pomfrey that I'd look after you."

Marlene knew that Lily meant well but her poor choice of words left Marlene feeling like a child who needed supervision. She nodded her head but she could feel her hands grip tighter from frustration.

"Any harder and you might cut off my circulation," Sirius whispered into her ear and she shivered. Her attention on James and Lily's retreating figures faltered as she realized that she was squeezing Sirius's hand a little harder than normal.

"Sorry," she breathed and relaxed her grip.

"She means well," Sirius said with a small shrug as though he were reading her mind. Marlene merely nodded; it wasn't a conversation she was interested in pursuing.

"I think Peter and I are going to work on homework," Remus mused quietly from somewhere beside them. The two boys didn't wait for an answer before heading to a back corner of the common room. Marlene was certain that it was an excuse to give her and Sirius some privacy but she was grateful for it.

"How are you feeling?" Sirius was the first to break the silence between them after their friend's departure. He let go of her hand and shifted his body sideways to look at her. For the first time since their reunion a look of concern flashed across his face.

"Not you too," Marlene mumbled with a dejected sigh.

"Forgive me about caring about you," Sirius's voice shot back with a trace of irritation but a small smile broke out across his lips. "Just humor me, won't you?"

Marlene shifted her eyes upwards to meet his gaze. It had been an awfully long time since she had stared into those eyes and her memories didn't do their passion any justice. Despite the fact that only two months had passed between their encounters, Sirius seemed different than she remembered. Even though he was still shamelessly handsome, his hair was slightly longer and his face was gruff and uneven with stubble like he hadn't shaved in a few days. The most notable change about him though, was that he looked uncharacteristically tired.

He moved a hand almost nervously through his hair and her lips curled upwards instinctively as she noted that he was affected by her curious observations. "I'm fine," she finally replied, "at least physically anyways; not much they can do for the emotional aspect unless I'm game for a few memory charms."

"I was actually referring more to the emotional side of things," he laughed briefly. "Clearly you just spent eight weeks in St. Mungos. If you weren't fine physically I doubt we'd be having this conversation right now."

"Right," she let out a deep breath.

"I know you don't want to be treated like a ticking time bomb," he started and held up his hand when Marlene tried to interject. "Let me finish. I'm allowed to be concerned about you; you nearly died in my arms a couple of months ago. I won't baby you; I can tell that you're afraid I'm going to treat you differently. I just want you to know that I care about you and I'm going to ask questions that demonstrate that. But I won't hover around acting like you're fragile and about to break at any moment. That's not who I am."

"I know," Marlene let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Why she had ever been concerned with Sirius treating her differently, she didn't know. She allowed her shoulders to relax and tossed her head against the back of the couch. Sirius was watching her carefully but eased back as if to mimic her relaxed composure. "I shouldn't expect anything less from you. Merlin I've missed you."

Sirius's careful expression lit up and he leaned forward towards her. "I'm glad to hear you say that. Two months was far too long for my liking."

"No," Marlene shook her head slightly. "It's been much longer than that."

Sirius's smile flickered slightly as though realizing where the conversation was headed. He didn't move away though and continued to focus his gaze on her. "We don't have to talk about that tonight. I'm sure it's been a really long day for you."

"How long do you suggest we put off this conversation," she said with a laugh. "It's already been on hold for two months."

"That's true," he nodded. "Where should we begin then?"

"Um," Marlene bit her lip nervously. She hadn't quite thought about what they would talk about when they saw each other again and she attempted to rack her brain to come up with a way to ask the questions floating around in her head without sounding awkward.

"How about I start?" Sirius was watching her carefully almost as if he had sensed her sudden nervousness. Marlene nodded her head quickly and Sirius reached over to grab her hand again before giving it a quick affectionate squeeze. "I think it's pretty apparent that I still have feelings for you so I'm not sure why you've started trembling like a leaf all of a sudden."

"Is it that obvious?" Marlene laughed nervously and Sirius's smile widened.

"Yes," he answered candidly. "You said something in Hogsmeade to me before the attack and I want to know whether or not you meant it?"

Marlene didn't need to ask him what he was referring to. She had professed that she loved him only moments before the first explosion and the events thereafter left them unable to discuss what had transpired. With Sirius's eyes trained on her she could almost feel the blood rushing to her pounding heart; thumping so loud and fast that she was afraid it might break out of her chest. Despite everything that they had been through Marlene still couldn't seem to control the way he made her feel and she mentally cursed herself for being so timid.

"Of course I meant it," she dared to glance upwards and look him in the eye again. She knew that in order to make things work with Sirius she would have to break free of her habitual aversion to him with regards to her feelings. She had had a lot of time to think while she was in St. Mungos; a lot of time to reflect on how badly she had handled things and what she needed to do in order to fix it. "I love you, Sirius."

She watched as his lips grew wider and his grey eyes glinted with a hint of the usual mischievousness that Marlene had grown to admire. He leaned even closer into her so that his nose was grazing hers and she could feel his warm breath on her face, sending an involuntary shiver through her body. "I love you too."

The seconds between his words and the moment that their lips connected seemed like an eternity. It was short and sweet; Sirius moved inwards to close the gap between them with a chaste kiss before pulling away. Marlene was slightly disappointed though; she figured that such an admission warranted more than such simplicity.

"So what does this mean for us then?" she forced the question that had been dancing around her head for weeks instead of dwelling on the minimalism of their kiss.

"What do you mean?" Sirius's brows knitted together with confusion.

"Are you my boyfriend?" she could feel the embarrassment of her question causing her cheeks to flush but Sirius merely smiled and pulled her face back in for another brief kiss.

"Do you want me to be your boyfriend?" he asked with amusement after he pulled away for the second time.

"Of course," Marlene said swiftly.

"Okay then," he replied after a moment's thought. "Then I guess the answer to your question is yes. And stop blushing like that; I have a hard time keeping my thoughts together when you get flustered."

"Sorry," Marlene laughed nervously. She was sure she was probably blushing again but Sirius didn't say anything further about it. After he tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear he shifted his weight in the couch so that he was leaning back against the arm rest like he had been earlier. Although Marlene disliked the change in distance between them it required her to become more aware of the chatter around the room, forcing her to recognize that they weren't alone to enjoy any intimate moments with one another.

As if reading her thoughts Sirius nodded his head to a group of students sitting close by and said "It's not that I don't want to, you know. I just know how you feel about public displays."

"Right," she replied. Her eye caught a group of fifth year girls sitting close by that were watching them with envious looks. She could depict whether or not they were jealous of their closeness or the fact that it was Sirius she was getting cozy with. She forced herself to avert her attention away from them and sighed. "Probably a good idea."

"You look exhausted," Sirius said after a moment of silence had passed. "I hate to sound like Lily but maybe you should consider calling it a night. I only just got you back; I don't want to be the reason for any more hospitalization."

"We have so much to talk about though," she protested even though she knew he was right.

"And we have plenty of time to talk tomorrow," he shrugged. He didn't seem at all bothered to put a pause on their conversation.

Marlene smiled weakly. Sirius was right and she knew that she had already pushed her emotional capacity for the day. Coming back to Hogwarts and being bombarded with all of the new information she had learned had contributed to a new fatigue and she couldn't help but think longingly about her four poster bed that waited for her upstairs.

"Maybe I am a bit tired," she admitted and Sirius smirked knowingly. "But we will continue this conversation tomorrow. You can't get rid of me that easily."

"I wouldn't dream of it," he replied smoothly but Marlene flinched instinctively at his words, pulling away from him. The word dream brought a sudden influx of fear she hadn't been quite expecting and her mind flooded with images from some of her most recent nightmares. "What's the matter?" he asked with concern, "did I say something wrong?"

"It's not you," Marlene shuddered, "Just thinking about a bad dream I had recently. I'm not quite sure why it popped into my head."

"You've been having nightmares again?" his brows creased slightly in concentration but he didn't look pitiful. Marlene nodded her head. "I really think you should talk to Pomfrey or Lily about getting a sleeping draught for that."

"Yes," she said quietly. Even though she had grown accustomed to them at St. Mungos's she hadn't thought about asking for the sleeping draught when she arrived back at school. Even more so, she had been optimistic that the distraction of being back would deter them from occurring. "I'm sure that I'll be fine tonight though."

"Okay but you know where to find me if you need me right?" he looked skeptically at her and she nodded in reply. "Take care of yourself tonight, Mar. I'll see you in the morning."

Marlene leaned in for another kiss but it was just as short as the last ones had been; nothing in comparison to the one she had been initially greeted with. She sighed into his lips as he pulled away. "These are far too short for my liking."

Sirius leaned his head against hers and opened his eyes to look into hers. "We have an audience. Do you really want to give them a show?"

Marlene could still see some people glancing their way in her peripheral and she sighed for a second time. "I don't know, maybe I do."

Sirius grinned but didn't move forward to initiate anything.

"Okay fine, you're right. No I don't," she finally groaned in defeat.

"Goodnight Marlene."

"Goodnight Sirius." She leaned in and gave him another quick peck before pulling away and removing herself from the couch. "Tell everyone else I said goodnight."

"Of course," he was smiling at her. She could feel his eyes watching her cross the room towards the staircase. Marlene gave him a quick wave goodbye and then his smiling face moved out of sight as she ascended up the spiraling staircase.

The dorm room looked much the same as Marlene remembered it. The curtains around her bed were drawn closed and the trunk at the foot of her bed lay unopened. She moved towards the trunk first and lifted the lid to deposit her book bag and grab her pajamas. Almost as a last thought her hands reached towards the bottom and she pulled out the familiar sweater that belonged to Sirius. She lifted the fabric to her face and breathed it in. She would definitely be counting on its comfort to get her through the night.

After she had changed she pulled open the scarlet fabric of her four poster bed and as Lily promised, a neat envelope was propped against the pillow addressed in her name. She had already forgotten about it and the sight of it caused a tremendous wave of sadness to wash over her as she realized that she wouldn't see Mary's smiling face in the morning.

She picked up the envelope and stared at the less than elegant scrawl of Mary's handwriting. Her fingers fumbled the edges momentarily before deciding that she wasn't too sure she was in the right state of mind to read what was enclosed within. They hadn't been on the best of terms the last time they had been around each other and Marlene wasn't certain that what needed to be said could be conveyed properly in a letter. She carefully placed the envelope on the nightstand beside her bed so that it was propped up and in plain view as a reminder to be opened in the morning.

As she lay in bed she could hear the indiscreet shuffling of feet and loud giggles in the staircase outside the dorm room. Of course students weren't being cautious with their level of noise; a quick glance at the clock revealed that it was only a quarter past eight. Marlene sighed and rolled over in bed and pulled the thick comforter up around her in an attempt to drown out any unwelcome noise. It didn't take long for sleep to come though. Despite the numerous distractions that could have prevented her from falling asleep, her body was overcome with exhaustion and she passed out almost immediately.

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><p><strong>Liked it? Please review :) I'll post them sooner if I get more feedback!<strong>


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